Dawn and Twilight
by VilyaSage
Summary: Final Chapter! The mystery--or part of it--of Sheba's origin is finally revealed...and the Adepts finally all join together again, headed for their next adventure. Garet's a horrible card player ;)! Read on! And Review! Vil
1. Apojiian Catastrophe

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: This is the sort of companion story to Sunlight and Shade. Obviously, you didn't have to read that one in order for this one to make sense. It'd still be nice if ya did, of course. But you'll get this one without reading SS. And, for you SS readers, some holes will be filled in. 

Disclaimer: Well…there will be some upcoming things that I own. I do own the Apojiian boat here…and the sludge bit…ok, that's enough. You all know Golden Sun isn't mine. 

Chapter One: Apojiian Catastrophe

            "Picard, I thought…I thought you were banished from Lemuria," Ivan said, glancing at the Lemurian and pausing in his current endeavor, attempting to polish the scratches from the wooden table. _Not happening_, said a voice in his head. Probably Smog, he mused.

            "So did I. Apparently Conservato was…overruled in that matter," Picard said with a grin. Of course, the only thing that saw his grin was the cloudless blue sky. For some reason, that sky was leaving Ivan with an ominous feeling these days, but for Picard it was nearing the level of a fixation.

            "Good for you, bad for us. I don't know that Garet could handle another trip through the Sea of Time," Jenna said, smiling. Her job, along with Garet, Felix and Sheba, was a form of inventory. This wasn't Picard's ship, after all. First off, it had both Psynergy-propulsion and a set of sails.

            This included a mast. It had been a ship docked at Apojii and left there, and the owner had made it quite clear that it was useless on windy days. "Non-Adept owner," Isaac had said, and with a bit of planning had managed to get the people of Apojii to loan Picard the ship for the trip he'd be taking to Lemuria. 

            He had originally wanted to use his own ship, but the waters of the Sea of Time had grown quite dangerous, even for as good a sailor as Picard. He didn't like to admit that, but it was true. He'd likely not come back to Apojii anytime soon if the boat wrecked, but at least it wouldn't be his boat. 

             Of course, the moment he'd said that he had been asked to go to Lemuria, there had been a chorus of, "I'm going."

"No, you are not. The very reason they are so angry with me is because I brought outsiders inside." Picard had been very clear on this point.

            "Well you can't think we'd let you go alone," Jenna countered. Felix had sighed in impending exasperation.

            "They way you two argue, you'd think it was fun," Garet had said. This had incurred Jenna's wrath for a few moments, and Garet had promptly exited the conversation. Jenna was probably the one person that truly scared him. Not that his sister didn't come close.

            Then there had been the whole business with Kraden, who had come to Apojii and insisted on inspecting every inch of the ship. It was his fault they were cleaning like this.

            Sheba was currently up as high as she could get on the mast, checking the ropes that held the sail. _It would be easier_, said Whorl's voice, _to just balance on the wind for this_. 

            "I don't like to use up Psynergy when I can just do it the normal way," Sheba muttered, reaching for the next rope. "That way I'm ready in case I need it." 

            "Talking to yourself again, Sheba?" asked Felix from below.

            "I want to know how you heard me," Sheba retorted, both answering the question and giving no direct answer at all.

            "That's a good question," Felix remarked quietly.

            "Hurry up, you three," Kraden said, coming onto the ship via the gangplank. Sheba had found herself using many more nautical terms than she'd ever expected, even with the unreliable ability to see the future. Five months ago, she hadn't even known what a mainsail was. Not that she was getting that right anyway.

            She also thought, for a moment, that Kraden had miscounted. It was only Felix and she…Sheba happened to glance down at that moment and glimpsed Isaac, scrubbing furiously at the deck at the bow of the ship. _There's another one_, Sheba thought. _The bow. The stern. Port, starboard…keel, right?_ She didn't bother questioning why she was reciting those in her head. As much as she was a Jupiter Adept, she was not fond of extreme height.

            Well, really, height didn't bother her. Falling didn't even bother her. It was what came after the fall. The landing bothered her. Hard, sharp, painful, possibly fatal landings _really_ bothered her. And she had just looked down. It was the favored joke of Ivan, that she didn't like being in high places often. 

            "How did this thing get so dirty, anyway?" Isaac muttered to himself. "And whose idea was it to suddenly appoint Kraden leader?" 

            "I heard that, boy," Kraden said warningly.

            "His fault that the Elemental Stars were stolen from Sol Sanctum in the first place," Felix added in a low voice. "He let you in." Felix had walked over to where Isaac was. Isaac resisted the urge to glare at him. Felix's job was to look for any holes and, with the help of whichever Mars Djinn he'd borrowed, get rid of them using Growth Psynergy. Isaac would have much preferred this over scrubbing the deck.

            "Isaac," said a voice above him; he looked up and met Ivan's eyes. "You're scrubbing hard enough to give Felix more work to do," Ivan said in a serious voice. 

            "Yes, you noticed," Isaac said venomously. Ivan took a step back on reflex. Few things had ever made Isaac noticeably cross. Ivan could count them on his fingers and still have plenty of fingers left over. Whatever it was, Ivan knew he should stay far, far out of the way. For a good long time.

            "Anyone have a good rope-fixing Psynergy handy?" Sheba called down, running her fingers along a section that was nearly frayed through. "I don't know if Growth would do it for rope fiber…then again, I don't know what this rope's made of," she added. 

            "I can see if it does work," Felix offered. Sheba shook her head.

            "Never mind it. This one's wrecked all over the place. Better off with a new rope." So saying, she pulled out a small dagger and sliced the complicated knots that held the rope in place on either end. _Easier than untying, I suppose?_ Gale quipped. Sheba ignored her. 

            Mia would usually have no qualms about being stuck in the lower levels of a ship on water. Today, however, was quite different. The water was shallow, first off, and second, the inner rooms of this particular vessel were crawling with things she couldn't name. Neither fire nor earth powers had been deemed practical to use in clearing them out, and wind powers were havoc in enclosed spaces. Picard was busy doing whatever it was ship captains did—_or Commanders, or Admirals, or whatever class he's at, at the moment_, chimed in Dew's cheerful voice—so it was left to her to clear this…whatever it was…out of the lower levels. 

            Mia took a deep breath, aiming one hand at the floor. "Deluge!" she said, calling up the most potent, unfrozen Psynergy she could think of. Forge had willingly agreed to switch places with Fizz while Mia did this. She didn't know why, exactly, unless Forge (and Garet) wanted to taunt Isaac. Which they did, probably.

            Water instantly filled the room, leaving Mia completely submerged, as well as every other creepy crawly thing that did not belong on board. Those other things were washed out through a large hole in the side of the ship, and Mia was nearly taken with them. 

            Soaking wet again, she let out a long sigh and sat on a now-clean wooden crate. "Talk about disinfecting," she muttered. There were still some ugly green things in that corner over there. "What I wouldn't give for something larger and more substantial to actually bash around. I wonder if I should call Garet down here," she added with a wicked grin.

            _Is talking to yourself a constant thing?_ Apparently Forge would rather not have noticed Mia's muttering. 

            Sighing again, she rose and went about getting rid of the remainder of whatever sort of moldy, grimy thing was taking over the ship's holds.

            Garet wasn't faring much better himself, though it might not have done Mia much good to know that. He was in one of the previously-de-scummed rooms, stacking boxes one on top of the other. A great pile of them had just come crashing down on top of him, burying him under splintered wood and several pounds of food.

            Groaning, Garet shoved the pile off him and grudgingly began putting the food back in what boxed remained. He'd ask Felix or Isaac to fix the rest of them later. Stacking them again, and cursing Ivan for being so willing to give over the Carry Stone and Lifting Gem, he turned to the next pile of boxes and wondered if it was standard for one to feel beaten after using such Psynergies repeatedly.

            "I don't know how Picard ever did it," he mumbled.

            "I do," said the Adept in question, coming down the stairs loaded with more boxes.

            "Not more," Garet said, horrified.

            "More, I'm afraid," Picard said sullenly. "But I thought you could use a hand down here, anyway, so I came to help. But perhaps I did not need to come after all," he added, hastily beginning to back up the stairs. Garet, almost faster than he had ever moved when not under the influence of Zephyr, Coal or mortal peril, grabbed the Lemurian by the out-of-place red armband he wore and practically threw him back down the stairs.

            Picard made a sound that was half a shout, half a gasp, and sat on the floor looking at Garet as though he was crazy. 

            "Er…sorry there, Picard…" Garet mumbled, turning to Lift more boxes. "There hasn't been anything to vent on down here, you know, and I can't very well take it out on Kraden, even if it _is_ all his fault…"

            "Quite alright," Picard said, standing and looking around. "Just how many boxes _have_ you knocked over?"

            "Don't ask."

            "Too late."

            "Eighteen."

            "Ouch."

            "Yeah, that's what I said too. All twenty-three times."

            "But I thought—"

            "Eighteen _boxes_. Twenty-three attempts to stack."

            "You really are just as clumsy as Jenna sa—I mean…" Picard took the look on Garet's face to be one of impending doom. Quite fortunately, for him at least, he was saved the aftermath of this by a sudden scream.

            "That's Mia," Isaac said casually from where he was scrubbing; now far to the right of where he had been before. His words seemed to take a moment to hit even himself. "That's Mia!" he said again, with a bit more feeling in it, standing and running for the stairs. 

            Ignoring the height, Sheba leapt from her perch and landed gracefully on both feet, easily converting her momentum into a fast run. She shot by Felix, who gave her a dirty look. Balance, while not based on element alone, was one of Sheba's stronger points.

            Reaching the most recent mold-infested room that Mia was dealing with, Ivan and Jenna found they were the first to arrive. The green sludge had somehow collected itself into a sort of lumpy shape with two large, three-fingered hands and a couple of glowing red eyes.

            Ivan saw those eyes and his stomach flipped. Something about them was just…familiar. _Don't be silly, Ivan_, he told himself. _Nothing you've fought yet has had eyes like that…like they're lit by some inner fire…now where did _that_ thought come from_?

            "Weyard calling Ivan!" Jenna said, giving him a good shove. "Stop spacing!"

            "Uh…sorry, Jenna…something just hit me, that's all…" Ivan waved away her impending question. Supposedly, Ivan had the ability to predict the future. He didn't seem to be excelling at this; very rarely, he'd get a flash of something, but even more rarely were these flashes useful. This time was probably one of those useless ones.

            By this time, Sheba, Isaac and Felix had made it downstairs. The sludge monster was rather foul smelling, and as it currently had one grimy hand holding Mia against a wall Isaac couldn't say much for its demeanor, either. 

            "Everyone duck," Felix muttered as Picard and Garet finally arrived. "Isaac's on the warpath." 

            "Oh goody," Garet said, evilly smirking. "Something to thrash."

            "Who, Isaac?" Ivan asked incredulously.

            "No, Jupiter boy, he means the slimeball," Jenna said hotly. 

            "He's going to thrash _himself_?"

            "Ivan!" Garet yelled. While this was going on, Isaac and Picard looked at one another. They exchanged resigned sighs. 

            "They really have got to stop arguing in the middle of something vital," Picard said, speaking for both of them. "Every time we fight something big, and possibly threatening, an argument breaks out."

            Resignedly, Isaac stared at the slime monster. He couldn't use Psynergy in here—Grand Gaia would completely destroy this room and several around it, let alone trying Stone Spire, Odyssey or Quake Sphere. He seriously doubted that Potent Cure or Revive were worth even considering. 

            Picard, on the other hand, had an idea. He did not have Deluge, as they had wanted to avoid any serious Djinn-swapping…the last time, Ivan had ended up at Chaos Lord class and had lived up to it quite well, and had retained very few memories of the event afterwards. Picard refused to think about afterwards. 

            However, Douse would be enough for what he was planning. Quickly, he spoke it aloud to Isaac and Sheba. Isaac shook his head.

            "It'd hit Mia too," he said, obviously disagreeing for this reason alone. Sheba nodded; this was true. Picard nodded also. He then explained to Isaac exactly what his part would be in the plan.

            "And I know I'm crazy, before you tell me so," Picard said, struggling to hold back a smile. "Come on, we are stalling. When Isaac gets there, fire away, Sheba," he added, and Sheba nodded again.

            Isaac took off at a run for the hand that held Mia captive. He reached it, drawing the Sol Blade and beginning to hack, unleashing Granite under his breath. Picard, meanwhile, had called upon Douse, aiming it directly at the creature's face and distracting it. 

            Sheba pointed directly at Picard's water stream and fired a concentrated Plasma blast. This was the brilliancy of Picard's plan. Isaac drove his sword into the floor, grasping it with one hand and, revulsion written on his face, grabbed hold of the sludge hand with his other one. A potent electrical charge rippled through him, but his Venus Psynergy and the added reinforcement of calling on Granite beforehand stopped it from doing much but being very irritating and making his hair stand on end. Granite's main order had been to surround Mia, anyway, so that the electrical charge didn't zap her.

            However, Picard had made one slight, suddenly horrifying miscalculation. In his experience, and obviously in everyone else's or they would surely have seen the flaw, Psynergy most often traveled in the direction, and only the direction, it was aimed. This of course excluded things like Pyroclasm, which hit everything, and Glacier, which went in all directions. 

            This time, however, Picard's plan quite literally backfired. The Plasma charge surged forward along the stream of water, but it also surged _backward_, blasting into Picard's hand and making him feel as though his whole body had been set aflame. 

            "This can _not_ be good," Jenna said, hearing a noise that was somewhere between a strangled yelp and an all-out scream. She turned to find the sludge monster reduced to smoldering bits of something she'd rather not see on a full stomach, Mia looking at her grime-covered clothing in utter disgust, Isaac trying to wipe the muck from his hand onto his shirt, and Sheba staring with horrified eyes at where Picard lay motionless on the floor.

            Garet, Felix and Ivan stopped bickering the instant Jenna turned, and Isaac and Mia looked up as well. 

            "What did you _do_?" Felix asked in a quiet voice. Sheba looked stunned, and quite hurt, until she realized he was asking Picard. _Odd of him_, she thought. _He knows Picard couldn't possibly answer_. 

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "Honestly, Isaac! What were you _thinking_?!" Isaac winced. He didn't think he'd ever been berated like this before, not even by his mother. Worse, it was Jenna who was shouting, with Mia staring icily at he and Sheba as they looked up from where they'd been completing the last of the scrubbing. 

            "It was Picard's plan," Sheba said calmly. Jenna raised an eyebrow.

            "I thought Jupiter Adepts knew a bit more about electricity, and could have told if it were going to backfire like that," Mia said frostily.

            "Well Picard's alright, isn't he!" Isaac snapped, well aware that losing the fragile control over his temper that he had wasn't going to help him any. Mia made a sort of sniffing sound.

            "Alright, as you put it, could mean anything! Three days, Isaac, and he's _still_ giving off residual charges!"

            "Only when he's around Ivan, though," Sheba pointed out. "Or me."

            "I don't want a word from you, Sheba," Mia said, and Sheba's face became one of shock. "This is your fault."

            "I hear two people defending me and I do not at all like the way they go about it," Picard said, emerging from below deck. "Good morning, Isaac, Sheba. Mia, Jenna, leave them alone. It was my plan, and I thought that the Psynergy would act like it always did and head in a single direction. Jenna," he continued, noticing the fiery look in her eyes, "before you start in on me for being here, let me remind you that I am not without powers of my own." 

            "Picard," Mia began, but his raised hand cut her off. 

            "No. Not only is this the first time I have ever seen either of you actually verbally assault Isaac and mean something by it, I am quite surprised at the way you accuse Sheba of being at fault. Either I took a serious drain on your Psynergy or you are fed up with Kraden, both of which I understand completely, but that does not mean that you lay the blame on Isaac, who did not agree to the plan in the first place, and Sheba, who also had no idea that such a thing would happen."

            Jenna and Mia looked stunned. Ivan, watching from atop the mast, had the distinct feeling that a slight breeze would have taken either of them down in seconds. Picard wasn't known for long speeches like that unless he was seriously provoked.

            Isaac, seemingly snapped out of whatever daze he had been in, stood, now appearing to be the leader he truly was. 

            "We have got to stop this constant arguing," he said firmly, snapping Jenna and Mia out of it, too. "If there had not been such arguing going on, perhaps we would have had a better plan and Picard wouldn't be sending sparks between himself and either resident Jupiter Adept each time he passed their way. But it's happened already, it's over and done with, and we cannot change it. Get that through all of your heads nice and clear. It was no one's fault, and blame won't solve anything. Blame shouldn't be going about anyway—no one was seriously hurt."

            "Speak for yourself, Isaac," Picard said, a shadow of a grin on his face.

            "The ship is clean enough, in fact perhaps too clean, and we can get going to Lemuria!" called Felix's voice. Everyone looked at each other. 

            "You cannot go," Picard said softly. "I will risk no more trouble."

            "And you can't go by yourself," Isaac argued. 

            "We could always split off," Sheba suggested, brightening a little. "You know, four and four."

            "But what would the other four do to occupy themselves?" Ivan asked, assuming that when Sheba said split off, she meant into their original groups. That left Isaac, Garet, Mia and himself with nothing to do.

            "And there's Kraden to think about," Jenna added. All trace of arguing seemed to have been forgotten, and Mia was reminded yet again of exactly why Isaac was a good leader.

            "That man is not going to Lemuria again," Picard said fervently.

            Kraden himself strode onto the ship then, and after a few inspecting moments, drew Sheba aside.

            "Listen, Sheba. There is another reason I wished that Picard take a different ship to Lemuria. You see, I have gathered some information that may prove very beneficial to you," he said. Sheba looked at him curiously.

            "Information?" she asked.

            "Yes. It concerns your past."

            "I decided I would be content with the wonderful family I was raised with in Lalivero, Kraden," Sheba said coldly. 

            "I know, but I also know that you are still curious about exactly where you come from. If a group of you goes to Hesperia, I believe you will find answers there, Sheba."

            Sheba looked at the deck, confused. Did she truly want to know, now that she had set her mind on sticking to the friends and family she had, exactly what her life would have been before? More importantly, would any of them stand behind her?

            _Of course they would, silly girl_, said Blitz in her mind. 

            _What friends would they be if they didn't_? Haze added.

            "Right," she muttered, the looked up at Kraden. "Alright Kraden. But if you land us in trouble again, none of us are going to be happy about it."

            "I assure you, Sheba," Kraden said gleefully, "nothing can go wrong."

************************************************************************

Famous last words, aren't they? Oh…you thought I was stopping there, did you? Nope. It goes on.

************************************************************************

Sheba, of course, did not believe him for an instant. Still…her curiosity and long-running desire to know where she came from were overrunning natural caution and the nagging instinct that there was certainly plenty that could and would go wrong. 

            Currently, the expression, "Everything that can go wrong will," was known, to the eight of them at least, as, "Adepts' Luck."

            There were a few moments of spirited debate, of course. It was Felix's idea, and it seemed like the natural thing to do anyway, that if they were going to split up—Sheba had told them what Kraden said—it had to be into fours, one of each element in each group.

            Kraden himself had been banished to the deck, under the pretense that Picard had spotted a hole and wondered if Kraden could find where it was, as Picard himself had forgotten. This at least gave the eight Adepts a few moments' worth of peace.

            "Sorry about earlier," Mia and Jenna said at the same time.

            "We're over it," Isaac promised, smiling. Sheba nodded her agreement. Her mind was still on what Kraden had told her, and it was at this point that she revealed it to the others. 

            "Well…sorry, guys, but I just don't have it in me to trust Kraden a second time," Garet said, almost as though he dreaded their reactions to that. "I mean…the last time I trusted his judgment, I ended up on a quest to save the world and nearly got myself killed by the scariest Mars Adept in Weyard."

            "Karst didn't get anywhere _near_ you," Ivan protested. 

            "I wasn't talking about Karst," Garet remarked, shooting a glance at Jenna before looking guiltily nonchalant. Jenna resisted—barely—the urge to smack him a good one in the back of the head.

            "Well…if Sheba's going to Hesperia and Picard is going to Lemuria…" Mia began, counting off on her fingers, "then Ivan is going to Lemuria and I am going to Hesperia."

            "What?" Ivan asked suddenly. "Why?"

            "Elemental divide," Picard said. 

            "Oh yeah."

            "So…we've got Mars and Venus Adepts to split," Sheba said, quite suddenly getting into the idea of actually taking a long trip to Hesperia.

            "Hesperia," Isaac said in record time. 

            "Right on cue," Felix mumbled. "Lemuria for me, then."

            "Me too, if Felix goes," Jenna said. Garet sighed.

            "Hesperia," he muttered. "Against all trust of Kraden upstairs," he added, just so his point was clear. 

            "Sure?" Isaac asked.

            "Sure," Garet said glumly.

            "_Sure," Ivan mocked._

            "There will not be any more of this 'Kraken' business," Mia said firmly. 

            "Tomorrow, then, Picard, you can take this boat off to Lemuria. Watch out for angry old senators," Isaac added, grinning. Picard smiled back.

            "Oh don't worry. I have Megacool now," he said, smiling maliciously. They all knew he was joking, of course. 

            "And the rest of us," Isaac continued, "can Teleport back to Lalivero and grab Picard's ship, and then head out for Hesperia. And we'll all meet back in Lalivero again. Understood?"

            "Yes."

            "Sure thing, Isaac."

            "No problem."

            "Yep."

            "Leave the dead out of it, Jenna," Ivan said mock-sourly, wondering if they'd get the joke. Jenna glared at him. Ivan, looking frightened, held up his hands in surrender.

            "Better watch it, Jupiter boy," Jenna cautioned evilly. "We have to survive a whole trip to Lemuria and back."

            "Jupiter help us all," Ivan muttered, glancing at the ceiling.

************************************************************************

Well, that _is the end. Like it for a first chapter? It did get a bit…er…__long…but hey, that just makes it more enjoyable, right? I hope so. In case you forgot, this is subtitled "What Isaac, Garet, Mia and Sheba did while Felix, Jenna, Picard and Ivan were off saving Sinelsol Island." Don't know what Sinelsol Island is? Go read Sunlight and Shade, if you're curious. Oh, and Yepp, remember him, that guy from Yallam who died? That's what the joke was referring to. We clear? Oh good. See button? Press button. Or __else._


	2. Issues Worth Discussing

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: And we come to the next chapter. Like it yet? This chapter, while it may not get the Adepts very far along in the story, is quite worth your while. And it should explain a few things I left out.

**Griffinkhan:** Well, you said you understood it, so I'll take that and run with it. …Speaking of Conservato…he'll come into play soon enough. 

**Midnight C:** Well…they'll mention Picard a couple of times in later chapters. Kraden's an easy target? Yeah, they thought so too…whoops, I shouldn't be mentioning *that*…

**Akiko and Elena:** Sorry Aki, she beat you to first review. Both of you do me a favor, go get Triad, VI and Kadevi and make them read this. …Pretty please?

Onward and…downward, I suppose. Upward would, in this case, be backward. 

Chapter Two:  Issues Worth Discussing

            Teleporting back to Lalivero was the easy part. Using Hover to maneuver the ship back into the ocean was only slightly more difficult. Checking a map (the battered old Vale version, which had been drawn on and marked to no end, had its own place on the wall of one room of the ship—this map was newer, and looked less like Swiss cheese, post-Garet, and more like an actual map) and making sure they were headed in the right direction was moderately difficult, but only because it was noon and they had to rely on the coast of Angara.

            No, Isaac mused, the real difficult part about the journey was Kraden.

            Originally, the four Adepts had left Kraden in Lalivero, where they figured he'd have a good time doing whatever it was he did around Babi Lighthouse. Besides, Isaac knew that if Kraden's information proved false, or got them into a mess it was difficult to get out of, Garet would completely lose his temper. Thinking about it, Isaac couldn't say that he'd be able to control his own, either. 

            But discovering that Kraden had, in effect, stowed away and waited until they were a good distance from Lalivero before revealing himself had quite a negative effect on all of the Adepts. Mia was in a positively ferocious mood, and had planted herself quite immovably at the stern with a thick book on some topic no one had dared ask about. 

            Garet was in a rotten mood anyway, because they were on open water now, with the southern edge of Angara just barely visible on his left. He realized that this may have accounted for about one-third of his discomfort and turned around, in the process slamming his forehead into the wall-type thing he had been leaning against. He still didn't know what to call this…sort of small upper deck that came out of the actual deck. He did know it wasn't a mast.

            Well, he knew that it wasn't a mast when he was capable of coherent thought. At the moment he was preoccupied with why everything was sort of crooked and how he was going to get rid of what was rapidly becoming a pounding headache.

            Sheba, herself the sole occupant of that upper deck sort of thing that no one could really put a name to, sighed in resignation. While it was obvious that facing the back of the boat, and therefore having the sensation of traveling backwards, probably wasn't a good idea for a Mars Adept on an ocean voyage, she did have to admit that the klutziness accompanying such a situation would have been much better off if left for appropriate moments. 

            "Waft!" Sheba said in a worn voice, and the Djinni sprang from her hand and circled lazily around Garet's head. Still leaning against the side of the deck thing, he slumped into sleep.

            "Mia owes you," Waft said in his perpetually sleepy voice, reappearing on Sheba's head in the process.

            "I would wonder why, but I've wondered so many times the answer isn't important to me anymore," Sheba muttered.

            "Wonder why Mia owes you?"

            "No, wonder why Djinn love Adept heads."

            "Oh."

            "Isaac's theory is that its been ingrained in you since the dawn of creation," Sheba continued, and it was a mark of how desperate she was for conversation that she was holding one with a half-awake Djinni.

            "Theory. No basis in fact." As was usual, Lull had to come out and state her opinion on whatever was happening. Ivan had once commented that Lull and Luff were nearly identical, aside from physically, only Luff had more of the personality of a hardened old man, and Lull was more like a gossipy old woman.

            Equally as annoying, though, as all Djinn must be.

            "A theory yet to be proven," chimed in Aroma.

            "Also yet to be disproved," Blitz remarked. Room atop Sheba's head had suddenly become quite rare.

            "All five of you," she said (Haze had appeared out of sheer habit), speaking in tones that would have felled trees in even the hardiest Apojiian forest. "Get. Off. Of. My. _Head_!"

            There were five simultaneous purple flashes, and to Sheba's immense relief the conversation did not continue within the confines of her mind. 

            And Isaac, at the wheel, suppressed his thousandth (give or take) groan as Kraden made yet another comment on how he should adjust, modify, or correct his steering. Isaac found that it was quickly approaching impossible for him to hold his control. He had yet to be heading anything but due west and Kraden was only making him wish he'd left _himself_ in Lalivero. Or better, let Kraden sit and wait in Apojii. 

            In fact, that gave Isaac what he felt was a rather marvelous idea. The very next instant, Kraden said, "More north," and Isaac happily obliged, turning so the ship was making straight for the nearest shoreline.

            _Champa,_ said Flint's voice in his mind. _Good plan_. _The ruins there will keep him busy for a good long time_.

            _Isaac, you are an idiot_. That, of course, was Bane. 

            _No he isn't!_ That insistent, definitely outraged voice belonged to Quartz. And if _she_ was losing her temper, then Isaac was in a worse mood than he thought. Quartz was, with the possible exception of Ground, the most controlled and calmest of all his Djinn. He even believed she was somewhat sane.

            _He's a mastermind for how to rid himself of trouble, is what_, Granite supplied. Then there was that one, Isaac mused, who had an unfortunate and often inopportune, but usually harmlessly mild case of hero worship. 

            _He gets himself _into _the trouble_, Vine argued.

            _Oh, stop it, you_, Sap chided. _Bane's only miffed because Isaac appears to have something against old men_.

            _What does Bane care?_ Petra snorted. _He's not a man, first off, and secondly he shouldn't be barging in on Isaac's thoughts_.

            _Take it back, whippersnapper!_ Bane roared.

            _She will when you stop acting ancient!_ Quartz retorted.

            _He _is_ ancient!_ Salt threw in.

            _So now you're on his side?_ Sap accused.

            _What? No! I just thought to point it out!_ Salt said defensively.

            "_All of you be quiet_!" Isaac yelled. He realized that he had said this aloud when Kraden stopped babbling and joined Sheba and Mia in staring at him as though he had lost his mind.

            "Yes well…" Kraden began, but at the sudden, intense glare coming his way from three directions he stopped. "I suppose I'll head on below now…" he said warily, wondering why he hadn't just stayed in Lalivero in the first place. Three sets of eyes followed him as he walked down the stairs, then two of those three refocused themselves on Isaac.

            "Djinn," he offered as an explanation. Sheba, who had been having similar problems herself, nodded and went back to her silent pondering. Mia, however, who was quite unfamiliar with an all-out Djinn row in her mind, as usually the things they were interested in doing or thinking coincided with her own interests or thoughts, continued to stare Isaac's way.

            Or Isaac thought she was staring his way, and was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable, not to mention he felt his face reddening. He thought this until Mia said, "How can Garet actually _sleep_, out here, on a boat in the ocean, in the middle of the day?"

            "Well, _you_ can," Sheba pointed out.

            "Yes, but Garet's a Mars Adept."

            "Yes, and so's Jenna, and right now I'm thanking Jupiter that she only ever got seasick in the Sea of Time and when it was seriously storming. Then again, we all got seasick in the Sea of Time, even Picard, and storming was never a fun time either."

            "You're avoiding my question, Sheba. Deliberately, I might add."

            "I am, yes. Garet was an oaf and knocked himself silly on the wall there, so I unleashed Waft on him."

            "You _wh_—" Mia was about to yell, and had nearly switched over to the affectionately termed 'ice queen mode' when a quiet, calm voice spoke in her mind.

            _Don't be a fool_.

            _What? Balm, I know that's you, only you could give me that sort of thing in straight tones_.

            _It's absurd for you to become angry at Sheba when she was attempting to help, and without thinking through exactly why you're mad_.

            _You know as well as I do that—_

            _Sorry, no. She got Garet out of your hair, and as Waft said earlier, though you weren't listening, you owe her one_.

            _Balm, if you weren't actually Picard's Djinni I might murder you_.

            _You might **try**_, thought Balm mischievously. 

            "Mia?" Sheba asked, raising an eyebrow. "Were you saying something?"

            "I…well…um…thanks, Sheba," Mia finished lamely. "Just, next time…at least get him out of the way first," she added with a grin.

            "Like I can move him. I don't even know that Psynergy." Sheba grinned back. She turned to look at Isaac again, giving him a questioning gaze and at the same time inquiring, "Champa?"

            "Champa," he confirmed with a grave nod. He was still staring at the open doorway where Kraden had disappeared down the stairs.

            "Cham…er…why Champa?" Mia asked, recalling that she was sick and tired of repeating words in different voice tones until all avenues of speech were exhausted. 

            "Kraden will have _fun_ there, is why," Isaac said, turning back to the wheel. "He can explore those old ruins and such. Though, Sheba, it would be a big help to the Champans if you'd go ashore and warn Briggs."

            "Absolutely, captain!" Sheba said, suddenly in a much brighter mood.

            "I'm not a captain, that was Picard's job."

            "His favorite class too, if I remember right," Mia added thoughtfully. "Seemed to think it was some sort of funny joke."

            "That's another idea," Isaac said, snapping his fingers. "Mia, could you…er…would you mind…"

            "Finding out from Kraden exactly where it is we need to be going? Certainly, Isaac." With that, Mia set her book down, still open, and walked lightly down the stairs.

            "How did…" Isaac trailed off. He was vaguely aware of Sheba coming to stand beside him.

            "She knows you, is how. I don't know why you've got such a problem asking her to do something, Isaac. Especially something that will make it easier for us to get Kraden off this ship," Sheba added fervently. 

            "Don't act as though I should know. I start the sentence and it just…gets stuck."

            "Is that perhaps like how Garet has the hardest time talking about anything that has to do with—" Sheba was cut off as the ship's forward motion came to an abrupt halt. They had reached Champa.

            Mia quickly emerged with Kraden in tow. "Come on, old man," she was saying, in such polite tones that 'old man' didn't even sound insulting. Isaac shook his head in amazement. Only Mia could change moods so quickly and flawlessly. 

            "Aren't you coming, Isaac?" Sheba asked, pausing before leaving the boat.

            "No, thanks. I figure Garet's gotta wake up sometime, and he'd flip if he thought we'd abandoned him in the middle of the ocean. Go on—warn that pirate about exactly what we're leaving on his shores," Isaac added with a sly smile.

            "I would like the chance to see that woman, what was her name, now…Obaba, that's right! Perhaps she could tell me more about the Ankohl Ruins…" Kraden trailed off, muttering to himself. 

            "I have learned more about those blasted ruins than I ever wanted to," Sheba mumbled, and Mia laughed quietly. "Wasn't pretty, running all through there looking for some piece of a trident so we could get into the Sea of Time…and then the Lemurians just basically kicked us out again…"

            "You don't usually complain this much," said Wheeze, in a voice that was the total opposite of what his name might suggest. "Today not windy enough for you or something?"

            "Lay off," said Gasp testily. Both Djinn had appeared in the air directly above their Jupiter Adept ally. 

            "If the two of you or any of your look-alikes end up on my head, I swear I will invest in Djinn repellant," Sheba said, finding it quite hard to glare at the air above her head without actually tilting her face upwards. "Besides, we're in a city where people don't know that you exist, and you're not supposed to show yourselves."

            "Champa's more of a town, really," Mia said, though her mind was obviously elsewhere, because she seemed not to have noticed the appearance, voices or disappearance of the Jupiter Djinn.

            There was a brief half hour in which Mia dumped Kraden with Obaba, Sheba took off and left a message with Chaucha that warned Briggs of the impending chaos that instinctively followed Kraden, and Mia and Sheba met up again at the ship and discovered Isaac, Garet, and the nine Mars Djinn playing a game of rock-paper-scissors on the upper deck thing.

            "One, two, three!" said Scorch, and Garet's hand showed scissors, Isaac's inevitably came up rock and there were nine 'foot' entries from the Djinn.

            "Ok, not fair," Garet said, though not because he had lost to Isaac. "What beats 'foot'?"

            "My foot beats Fever's foot," Forge said quickly.

            "And why?" Fever asked.

            "Because I'm sensible enough to dislike water," Forge replied in a dignified voice, "and you are not."

            "Oh yeah? Well my foot beats your foot, Forge!" Ember said hotly.

            "My foot beats _everyone's_ foot!" said Torch. "I'm the oldest here!"

            "My foot is bigger than yours, though," said Flash.

            "You all have the same—" Isaac attempted cautiously, but he was silenced with a chorus of, "_Shut up Venus Adept_!"

            "My foot is hotter than yours!" said Corona to Flash.

            "Not hotter than mine," Scorch put in smugly.

            There was a flash of movement from Isaac's general position, and as one the Mars Djinn yelped.

            "My rock beats everyone's feet, and Garet's scissors as well," Isaac said in a threatening tone, rubbing his semi-toasted fist. "Therefore, Garet, you are staying down below until we reach Hesperia."

            "What if we have to Hover?" Garet asked as the Mars Djinn vanished one by one.

            "I'm certain the three of us can handle it," Sheba said, agreeing with Isaac. "Garet, you're dangerous on open water."

            "Garet is dangerous everywhere," Mia added.

            "Come on, you guys are picking on me," Garet muttered. Still, he had fairly lost the game, and dejectedly headed down the stairs.

            "Isaac just doesn't want Mia wigging out on Sheba for trying to help," said Flash consolingly. "She almost did, earlier. It's a good thing Jenna didn't give you Spark or Tinder—they would have just popped out themselves and yelled at Sheba."

            "What did Sheba do that was so terrible?" Garet asked, digging around in his bag and coming up with several Psynergetic items. Among them were the Douse Drop, Frost Jewel, Pound Cube and Tremor Bit. "Does Ivan know he's left all his Psynergy stuff on the ship?" 

            "I don't think he does, and Sheba unleashed Waft on you," Flash said, perching on Garet's head to study the large quantity of Psynergy-granting things spread on the table. Flash was probably the _only_ Djinni present that Garet didn't really mind in his hair, considering how many times she'd saved his skin. "He even left the Cyclone Chip, and you know how much fun he had with that thing, so I doubt it was his intention."

            "There's an issue worth discussing," said Forge, appearing on Garet's shoulder. "The names of these things. For example, Douse Drop I understand—look at the thing, it's shaped like that big blue rock on Apojii. And Frost Jewel works, too, and Orb of Force is properly mysterious for an Element-less Psynergy. Things like Carry Stone and Grindstone and Cloak Ball are pretty self-explanatory. But really…Cyclone Chip? Chip of what? I know you can't just hit a cyclone with a hammer and get a piece of rock that creates a Whirlwind on force five."

            "Actually," remarked Coal, sitting on Garet's other shoulder, "I think it might be a piece of one of those giant tornado statue things, like the ones at Air's Rock. And the Douse Drop might be taken from one of those Aqua Rock stones." At the mention of Air's Rock, the three Djinn and Garet involuntarily shuddered, though they had never actually been there. Coal, originally allied with Jenna, knew about the Air's Rock experience, and, through a complicated chain of memory, so did all of Garet's Djinn and Garet himself.

            Of course, Aqua Rock produced a much worse effect than Air's Rock did.

            "And then you have Lash Pebble," continued Forge. Garet was vaguely aware of the ship beginning to Hover, and guessed that Isaac would sacrifice Psynergy for faster, battle-less travel. "What are the chances that someone just randomly stumbled across a pebble that gave an Adept a rope-tying Psynergy?"

            The three Djinn vacated Garet's immediate self and clustered around the small pile of stuff, still talking. Garet, however, laid his head down on the table and for no apparent reason fell asleep.

************************************************************************

Hm. What is there to say after this? I hope you're all laughing. It was supposed to be very funny. Other than that…well…FFTA comes out on Monday/Tuesday! (It depends.) I can't wait, that I can't!!

Push button. Make authoress happy. Get new chapter sooner.


	3. Hesperian Fire

Dawn and Twilight

AN: I so love having this story finished already. Except then I forget the days when I plan to post the chapters, but this works out better anyway. 

**Midnight:** It was supposed to be up Tuesday, I swear. But I hope this is soon enough for you. And there's slightly less outright funny in this, but a bit more deceptively hidden funny which is I suppose what you mean by 'humor like no one else.'

**Elena:** You win…uh…faster updates on MWY??? I dunno!

**Shiro:** Actually, for all the stuff they leave behind, Garet and the others get to _use_ it surprisingly not often. …That sentence was off. Oh well!

**Griffinkhan:** Ah, the muse actually takes credit for the 'foot' line in the rock-paper-scissors scene. …Briggs? Erm…yeah, I feel sorry for him too…(especially after *stops* Oh, no, mustn't tell about that, that we mustn't). Air's rock person deserves to…be smoten with a heavy stick. That place was creepy. (FFTA is Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, which is cool even though I've never played any other Final Fantasy game before.)

**Jupiter Sprite:** Ah, that's part of the grand design! To keep it from you is to keep you wanting more!!! *Evil laughing*

Well, you know the drill. Hop to it!

Chapter Three: Hesperian Fire

"Hesperia!" said Mia, echoing Isaac's warning call and Sheba's excited answer. Garet, having heard this, sprang from belowdecks and leapt right off the side of the ship, landing on the sand.

            "Hesperia!" he cried in relief, the same way someone lost in the desert for days would say 'water' upon suddenly finding an oasis. Sheba, Isaac and Mia were quick to follow him in disembarking. 

            Mia had told them all what Kraden had said, in response to Sheba's question of, "Why can't we just Teleport there?"

            They were looking for a town that had been lost to the ages, and it was in a forested area in the west, far from Shaman Village, which was their sole Teleport point on Hesperia. These people would be, according to Kraden, mostly Jupiter Adepts, perhaps with the odd Venus, Mars or Mercury mixed in. That was assuming, of course, that the people still existed. 

            "I knew there was a catch," Garet had said upon hearing this. 

            "Remember," Isaac warned as they started into the forest, "not only are there dangerous beasts and such around here, but these people may not be so keen on letting us just barge in. Keep your eyes—and your mind, Sheba—open."

            There was a general chorus of, "Sure Isaac," and the four Adepts became silent, one watching the left, one the right, one straight ahead and the last one lost in her own thoughts. 

            Sheba, though barely aware of what was going on, reacted fast enough (to Isaac it appeared to be a blur) to pull Garet out of the way as he nearly walked into a tree.

            "Thanks, Sheba," he said sheepishly.

            "No problem," she replied distantly. There was something up ahead, something with a power that at least resembled Psynergy…but it wasn't any Adept. "Enemy ahead," she warned, suddenly quite focused on the here and now. 

            "What kind?" Isaac asked in a quiet voice.

            "Something big," was the best Sheba could offer. Her Psynergy was pretty drained from Hovering all the way from Champa to the western shores of Hesperia—everyone's was. Well, with the exception of Garet.

            Isaac, walking in front, suddenly held up a hand. The others stopped behind him, Garet coming up next to him to see why Isaac had halted them. He just barely stopped himself from giving a long, low whistle.

            "Slayers," Isaac whispered, peering thought the trees. "About a dozen. Big."

            "We covered 'big' earlier," Mia hissed. "No one mentioned 'numerous.'"

            "Those things never travel alone," Garet argued. 

            "Point. Should we rush 'em?" 

            "We might try to go around," Sheba suggested. "We're almost Psynergy-less, and I doubt we could rush anything and come out on top, even if it is just twelve Slayers." Isaac seemed about to question her but Garet shook his head. The Slayers had stopped doing whatever it was they had been doing and were looking their way.

            After a few moments they went back to what they had been doing. Isaac motioned to his head, and Sheba raised a hand and cast Mind Read.

            _What do you mean 'only' twelve? Twelve is a lot!_ Isaac thought strongly, and Sheba smiled.

            _Twelve is nothing for the four of us,_ she argued, letting them all hear her thoughts, and Garet grinned. 

            "They're gone," Mia whispered urgently, and the others' heads virtually snapped back to where the Slayers had been. "All twelve of them," Mia continued, gripping her staff with both hands and glancing around. There was a rustle in the bushes behind her, and she spun as Garet fired off a Heat Wave, singeing the ends of her hair and blasting the attacking Slayer into a nearby tree.

            "Mistreating the forest," Isaac said in a chiding tone, but he was grinning nonetheless. He raised a hand and called on Clay Spire, smashing two of the Slayers as they emerged behind Garet. 

            "They're resistant to Venus," Sheba pointed out as the pair rose again, virtually unharmed. "And they're seriously armored."

            "You noticed?" asked Mia frostily, casting Ice Missile. Those same two fell again and did not stand. The one that Garet had Heat Waved had been joined by two others, and the remaining seven were grouped two, two and three, each small group heading for an Adept.

            "They're trying to break us off," Isaac said, and immediately the four of them drew closer together. "Garet, you've got the most Psynergy, try and take some of them."

            "Right. Maybe there _was_ a point to being banished to the hold. _Pyroclasm_!" Several pillars of flame erupted and did indeed go everywhere; Sheba herself narrowly missed being roasted by one. Three of the Slayers also fell to the violent Mars Psynergy, though, leaving seven to form an almost-complete circle around the Adepts. 

            "Venus-resistant means weak to Jupiter," Sheba said, a somewhat evil smile spreading on her face. "Destruct Ray!" Several bolts of lightning rained down on the Slayers, taking three more. 

            "We really are getting better at this," Mia commented. "Four left. Isaac?"

            "Actually, something's been bugging me for a while now. _Unleash Bane!_" The Venus Djinni materialized and struck, sending poison flowing through the Slayer he took out. Sheba and Garet had worked together to rid themselves of the other three, and turned to see what in the world Mia and Isaac were staring at, because they certainly were watching something interesting.

            "Isaac," Mia said quietly, and Isaac nodded. "It's…it's _human_…"

            "And a girl, too," he observed, looking down at the Slayer that Bane had struck. "But how?"

            "Perhaps they belong to the people Kraden was telling us about?" Sheba guessed as Mia knelt by the now-helmetless girl. "That doesn't make sense, though. We've fought numerous Slayers before now, and none of them have been human that I know."

            "Yes, but none of these Slayers has just disappeared without a trace, either," Garet said, staring down at one.

            "That might only mean they aren't dead," Sheba argued. "They could just be stunned."

            "Pyroclasm isn't just a stunning thing," Isaac said, and immediately Sheba found herself in agreement. That was Isaac's personality—when he said something, anyone with him automatically agreed. Aside from the enemy, of course. And Faran. Faran had had a problem with Isaac's authority, she'd been told.

            "Mia, what are you doing?" asked a frustrated—and currently perched on Isaac's head—Bane. "No offense meant, of course, but…are you crazy?"

            "What? What's she doing?" Garet asked, looking at Mia. Her eyes were closed and she was surrounded by the faint blue aura that signaled use of her healing Psynergy. 

            "_Are_ you crazy, Mia?" Isaac asked incredulously.

            "I'm only trying to help. If she does belong to this village or town or whatever it is, we can at least make ourselves out as friends and not enemies." Mia, finished, rose and picked up her staff. "If you want to object, go right ahead, and when we find out they're like the Kibombo or the Madrans then we'll just see what happens."

            "The Madrans aren't aggressive," Garet protested. 

            "They took an unconscious man from a boat far from their town and just threw him in prison without reason, and without even making sure he was alright, simply because they couldn't catch the true criminals and needed someone to blame. That's aggressive," Mia said, and Sheba nodded her agreement. 

            "As though they couldn't tell he wasn't Champa by looking at his hair," Sheba said scornfully. "And the Kibombo weren't much better—they would have killed Picard if he had tried to ask for his Orb back."

            "Are we taking along a fifth member on this little trip, Mia?" Isaac asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. Mia sighed and seemed to think carefully about her reply.

            "We can. We're all out of Psynergy probably until the morning so I doubt we can do more than what I've done, but she'll live, and we can't just leave her out here with…them," Mia added, motioning to the eleven other Slayers that, ironically enough, lay slain. 

            "Come on, then," Isaac said, and Garet lifted the girl, removing her heavy armor first. "There's a river where we can camp for the night. And then we should…" Isaac, looking at the map by the fading light, trailed off abruptly. 

            "Something wrong, Isaac?" Sheba asked.

            "We came in right there," Isaac said, pointing, "by where it says Hesperia Settlement."

            "And?"

            "And it wasn't there when we went across the beach," Mia said, picking up on Isaac's line of thinking. "But why?"

            "Never mind how," Isaac added.

            "Puzzle later," Garet said, walking considerably slower than the others. "Find a place to stop soon."

            "She heavy or something?" Isaac asked jokingly. Garet only glared. "Hey, we could still be on water right now, floating instead of having Hovered all the way here. Be grateful."

            "Oh yeah. I'm grateful," Garet muttered. "Real grateful."

            They reached the river and Garet set the girl-Slayer down, setting fire to some branches as Isaac, Mia and Sheba laid out blankets. The three of them lay down, Isaac saying, "You can take first watch, right Gar'?"

            "Oh sure," Garet said grumpily, sitting with his back to the flames and his face to the forest nearby. "First watch until midnight or one, then I get to wake up someone who's only gonna be grumpy at me, then I won't be able to sleep to save my life because I'll have been up too long…" 

            This grumbling continued unfailingly for several minutes, though he knew the other Adepts were asleep before he was very far into it. 

            "That's alright you three just fall asleep and leave me out here to face the danger because I'm the biggest when Picard's not around and I have lots of Psynergy but only because you three _practically locked me in the hold_ until we got here—" Garet cut himself off, having heard a noise somewhere in the trees. He waited a few moments, though his thoughts continued to ramble.

            _Oh great job Garet now you're hearing things maybe you really are psycho hearing rustling in the trees and it's probably just some bird or a squirrel or something stupid like that get a hold of yourself—_

            _What are you talking about?_

            _Oh great now you're hearing voices too—_

            _No, you idiot. It's me, Flash._

            _Oh. Sorry._

            _Stop your rambling! There is something out there, and it won't be pretty!_

            _Why?_

            _Because you're not watching it come straight for you!_ Flash's voice screamed in his mind, and instantly his attention snapped back to the present, as another, smaller set of Slayers came charging for him. He leapt to his feet, lost his balance and stumbled forward, then found it again and stood upright.

            "If you're like her," he said, motioning to the girl-Slayer on the ground, "then don't hurt me. Myself and my friends helped your partner here." 

            The lead Slayer made a series of sounds that were hard to decipher behind his armor. Garet took them roughly to mean, "Screw you," because right after that the six or so Slayers charged ahead. 

            "Flare Storm!" Garet said, wiping out two of the Slayers with one attack. Neither of them faded away, either. Another Flare Storm took down the three others, leaving just the Slayer-in-the-lead. Garet hefted his Fire Brand as the Slayer raised his short swords.

            "No Psynergy," he said quite clearly, and Garet nodded in agreement. Somehow this had turned into quite the macho-man battle. There were flashes of fire-on-steel as the weapons clanged against one another, and as the sword struck armor. Several times the two swords sliced at Garet, and about half of those were bad enough to concern him. 

            He had his swords high, and Garet kicked out, his foot connecting with the other man's stomach and sending him flying backwards. Garet brought the Fire Brand around in a final, smashing blow, and the Slayer did not rise again.

            However, Garet didn't feel much like celebrating. Actually, he felt like just lying down and letting the darkness show up. 

            _No way Mars boy,_ said a voice in his head. 

            _And now I hear Jenna's voice in my mind? Maybe I am going crazy_.

            _It isn't Jenna, it's Coal. Learn the difference. And I did not spend such a long time wandering around with those four and not pick up on a few things. Like maybe it isn't smart to take on someone in armor when all you're wearing for protection is a Mithril Shirt._

            _Hey, he didn't slice anything but my actual shirt, when he tried getting me there_, Garet protested. Ignoring Coal as she continued to verbally assault his strategies (or what posed as strategies), Garet crouched and shook Isaac's shoulder.

            Isaac opened bleary eyes, squinting up at his friend. "Your watch," Garet said quietly. "And move over fast, will you?" he added as Isaac slowly rose. Blinking away the sleep, Isaac got a better look at his friend in the light of the fire.

            "Garet, what in the world happened?" Isaac asked in a voice that was a combination of concern and shock.

            "I saved your…" Garet began, but he was too tired to continue, and began drifting off.

            "Venus help me, my friend's a real idiot," Isaac said exasperatedly. "Do you know how bad you're hurt, Garet? You look like someone's been trying to slice you like a loaf of bread!" 

            "Yeah…he…was…" Garet mumbled quietly. The small part of his mind that was still coherent registered the appearance of Flash and Coal, and wondered what they were doing outside of his head. Then even that part of him fell into sleep.

            Isaac concentrated, but he barely had enough Psynergy to use something simple like Quake. Still…it was enough…holding out a hand, he cast Cure. Sitting in much the same position that Garet had moments ago, only facing the fire instead of having his back to it, Isaac listened to the Djinn recount what had gone on.

            "That explains the five bodies over there," Isaac said casually. "Sometimes it makes me wish Garet had bothered to look into learning Aura."

            "You're joking, right?" asked Quartz, interested in the conversation and currently making herself at home in Isaac's hair. "Garet can barely mention anything like that. If he had to learn everything that goes with having a healing Psynergy—you know it's not all just 'say the words and they do the job for you,' Isaac—he'd probably either forget it all and kill someone or be too afraid to ever use it."

            "How is it that you always make the good points?" Flash asked.

            "Ooh. Djinn jealousy," Isaac mocked. "The three of you, back into your respective…wait, no. I like the company." Flash and Coal felt a sense of pride, then. Rarely did an Adept mention enjoying their presence when actually _in_ their presence. Especially one weak to their element.

            Hours later, the sun began to rise above the trees. The three Djinn had long ago disappeared. Isaac stretched, standing, then stopped when he felt something quite sharp pressing against his back.

            "Do not move," said a cool voice, vaguely reminiscent of both Picard's and Mia's. "What are you doing here, and why have you murdered our leader?"

            "I haven't," Isaac said, wincing as whatever it was poking him began to poke him harder, and making some quick and risky assumptions about the nature of this person behind him. "We are here looking for a village of Jupiter Adepts, and none of us would have hurt any of what must be your people if they had not come at us first."  
            "We do not take kindly to outsiders," said a different voice. "Not even those who appear friendly. Eventually they all betray us."

            "Please, at least let me turn around and talk to you face-to-face," Isaac said calmly. "It will be easier for me to explain if I know who I'm talking to."

            "Fine," said the first voice. "Turn."

            Isaac turned, and his mouth dropped open in shock. He was facing a Mercury Adept, there was no question. The blue hair and silvery-violet eyes were a dead giveaway. And she had a bit of a smile on her face, for all her harsh words.

            "We came on advice from a friend, looking for a town that apparently doesn't exist anymore, but once belonged to a group of Jupiter Adepts," Isaac began, ignoring the faces of the others, scowling and glaring at him. "We are trying, and have been trying for a few months, to locate the origin of one of my companions, who is a Jupiter Adept and has never known her past."

            "What advice led you here?" asked the Mercury girl coldly.

            "A…an old man named Kraden told us of a village in this area," Isaac ventured, and he watched the scowls deepen.

            "Kraden. We have been told, through generations, about this man Kraden and how he has betrayed the secrets of the village that was once our home," said one of the men angrily. 

            "Calm yourself," said the Mercury Adept, and the man instantly stopped talking. "I am Iasa," she said to Isaac. "You are?"

            "Isaac," he said, glad that for once he could introduce himself and not have one of the others doing it for him. "Those on the ground are Mia—she's a Mercury Adept, like you I assume—Sheba, the one who doesn't know her past, and Garet…who apparently killed your leader and several of your other men. I apologize—when last we fought Slayers, they were monsters, disappearing into nothing whenever we defeated them."

            "It is alright," said Iasa, a look of awe on her face. "Wake this Garet. I have something of utmost importance to tell him."

            "I don't know if that's a good idea," said Mia, who had been awake for a while and, upon hearing what Garet had done, had quietly risen and gone over to him. "Whatever he did, he got pretty well beat up in the process, and I haven't got the Psynergy to fix it, at the moment."

            "I have," said Iasa, standing next to Garet and gesturing with a hand. "Pure Ply," she said, and Mia stared up at her, Garet completely forgotten.

            "Something about you…looks familiar…" Mia said, though she couldn't for the life of her bring to mind what it could be.

            "Reminds you of Picard, doesn't she?" Sheba asked. Mia thought for a moment, then nodded.

            "Picard?" Iasa asked, and the three awake Adepts nodded. "I've never heard of any Picard before. But then, I don't really belong here. Apparently some time in the past, my great-grandmother came here, and her descendants have lived here ever since. I'm the only Mercury Adept in this place—the rest are Jupiter and Venus. Our Venus Adepts are what you call Slayers."

            "What'd I miss?" Garet asked, having heard the tail end of this conversation and abruptly sat up.

            "Garet!" Isaac cautioned, but stopped when he saw the entire horde of Slayers on their knees, even Iasa. "What are you doing?" he asked them.

            "Garet, warrior of…" Iasa began, but she stopped, unsure.

            "Mars," he supplied. "Fire Adept and such." There was a collective gasp.

            "Garet, warrior of Mars," Iasa continued with a smile, "has defeated our leader in battle. He is our new leader, and must live up to that title until such time as another new leader arises."

            The four Adepts looked at one another, then together looked at Iasa and cried, "_WHAT?!_"

************************************************************************

You guys didn't see that coming (except for the few I've told). There was no way you saw that coming. I hope. As for any other questions…all will be revealed in due time. But only if you review, of course. ;) 


	4. Immediate Action

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: Meeep! Here's another one! Really quick, I know, but I felt like being nice and giving you this one fast. Plus I have deadlines to meet and by forgetting the last chapter I've had to speed these up too. So here ya go!

First off…the general consensus is that Garet will either fail miserably as leader or else shouldn't have ever been one. What, does the idea scare you? (Scares me too, don't worry.) 

**Griffinkhan:** There's a few lines in here dealing with that. You had a really good point there. And if I ever mentioned Conservato being involved, it was a slip of my fingers. He won't be directly involved in anything. Whatever he _was_ involved in…well, it'd have happened long ago. And in that case, you should be glad you won't be seeing Kraden for a very long while.

**Void:** In a word…no.

**Midnight:** Yes, classic isn't it? Might even call it a weakness…if that's possible. *laughing* Ah well. Let's hope he survives as leader.

**Elena: **A bunch of Venus and Jupiter Adepts, actually. Just one Mercury. There used to be all kinds…but I'll save that for the chapter it's actually in. And get Akiko over here and tell her to review! 

Now off to reading, all of you. Since I was so nice and all. 

Chapter Four: Immediate Action 

            "Garet is the new leader of the Pajaros Tribe," Iasa said, and the other members of the tribe nodded. The Adepts looked at one another, quite at a loss.

            "Kraden said it was a village," Mia commented, recovering first and looking at Iasa curiously. "What's happened?"

            "Long ago, it was a village," said one of the Jupiter Adepts, a rather elderly one, as he stepped forward. "Before my father's time, and my father was alive to see the last days of…well, he lived long. Back then, Pajaros was a thriving town, trading with several other cities, even far-off ones like Izumo and large ones like Contigo and Kibombo."

            "Kibombo isn't large," Sheba protested. 

            "Perhaps not anymore," the old man conceded. 

            "Who are you, anyway?" Garet asked, rising and ignoring two glares of almost equal intensity from two annoyed Mercury Adepts. 

            "I am Jaldo, legend-teller of the Pajaros," he said, bowing as low as he could in front of Garet. "I hold all the tales and myths of old in my mind."

            "An outsider such as this cannot be made leader of the Pajaros!" protested another man. This one was younger, brash-looking, and had coal-black eyes and fire-red hair. "The title should fall to the first who can kill this murderer!"

            "Korain!" said Iasa sharply. "Do not speak hastily. There are many of you, it is true, who know not what a Mars Adept can do for the Pajaros people. With his help, and that of his friends, we could become a village again."

            "Do we wish to? We have survived well as a wandering people thus far," the man called Korain argued.

            "And what makes you think we would help?" Isaac asked rather angrily. "Your people attacked us, after all."

            "You are decent people," said the man who had spoken ill of Kraden before.

            "How can you know this, Dulo?" asked Korain heatedly.

            "Because when they discovered that Riali lived still, they used the last of their power to help her, and to try to keep her alive," said Dulo, using tones that were meant to hammer the point home. "If they were not good people they would have left her to die. And both times they fought, it was we who attacked first, without provocation."

            "You read my mind," Garet said, though it wasn't an accusation, merely a statement of fact. 

            "I did. I apologize, but any other Jupiter Adept who does so will see that what I say is truth."

            "Alright, so we'll help you," Sheba said, kneeling to pack her things away. "Do we get something in return?"

            "There is nothing to give. The Pajaros are not a…not a wealthy people. We have only what we need," Dulo said apologetically. 

            "Perhaps Jaldo could provide information on the past of Pajaros Village?" Mia asked. The sagely man nodded. 

            "Why do you want this information?" Korain asked.

            "I told you why we are here," said Isaac. "We need to know if this is the place of Sheba's origin."

            "Come with us back to the Pajaros camp," said Dulo, smiling as the remainder of the small group of Pajaros people stood. "We have food there, and water…and a place where our new leader can rest."

            "Garet, don't you dare say you don't need to rest," Mia snapped, and Garet cringed. He was beginning to have second thoughts about whether or not Jenna was the only female who inspired terror in him.

            "You," Iasa said, motioning to a cluster of people, "go retrieve the rest of our warriors."

            "They're not dead, then?" asked Isaac almost pleadingly.

            "It's doubtful," Iasa said with a small smile on her face. There was an audible sigh of relief from all four Adepts. 

            One of the Pajaros lifted the girl-Slayer—_Riali_, thought Garet, still not quite getting the idea that he was actually leading a people—and Iasa and Jaldo led the Adepts back to where the Pajaros tribe was currently stationed. There were several tents and one or two hut-like structures, and a central fire that was nothing but cool embers now.

            "For you, I will search the ancient scrolls of our people," said Jaldo, beginning to walk toward a large cave. He stopped, looked back over his shoulder, and finally settled his eyes on Isaac. "What information am I looking for?"

            "Was there ever a child that was taken from or just disappeared from Pajaros?" Isaac asked, and Jaldo nodded thoughtfully.

            "I will look. Be aware that it may take several days."

            "We'll wait," Sheba said. Isaac had to laugh when he heard her mutter quietly, "That's more time before we have to go get Kraden back." 

            "I wonder if it's struck Garet yet that he can't be their leader. We're leaving as soon as we find out whether or not Sheba was born here," Mia whispered, and Isaac nodded, conveying as much to Garet, who was sitting quite comfortably near the fire.

            "I…he's right," Garet said, turning to Iasa. "I can't be your leader. We leave in a few days' time, whenever Jaldo finishes whatever it is he has to do, and I can't stay. I have a duty to my friends…and to…er…well, my family…stop muttering about her, Sheba," he added, and Sheba laughed quietly. 

            "You see? He defeats our ruler and will leave us leaderless and defenseless in only a few short days," said Korain angrily. "We should throw them out now, if we do not kill them for the murder of our people first!" Korain drew his weapon, a sword only a bit longer than those of the previous leader, and started towards Garet.

            "You want a fight?" Garet asked in a challenging tone, bringing up his own sword with one hand.

            "No, he doesn't," said Iasa firmly. "And neither do you."

            "I thought I was your leader," Garet protested.

            "Temporarily, as you have pointed out," said Iasa, a hint of a smile—a smile that grew more familiar by the moment—forming on her face. "And whether you are leader or not, you'll listen to what I'm telling you or your Mercury Adept friend will force you to." 

            "She's right," Sheba said, and what made it worse for Garet was that he knew she was right, on both counts. He wasn't up for a fight, and Mia would forcefully stop one if it started. 

            Garet, Iasa, Dulo, Isaac, Sheba and Mia sat together around a makeshift table about an hour later, sharing both a meal and some interesting conversation.

            "Turns out we were supposed to follow the doors with blue markings above them," said Isaac, smiling at the memory. "Your esteemed new leader walked into the next room and abruptly fell down a flight of stairs."

            "Two flights," Garet amended, grinning. "And proud of it."

            "Perhaps one could call it graceful," Mia said, and Garet's mouth fell open in shock. Mia quickly finished. "If one were a blind man in dark glasses at midnight on a new moon." 

            "Thank you for your compliment," Garet said dryly.

            "Anytime."

            "Alright, Iasa," said Isaac, his voice taking on the rock-calm Venus tone that meant he was ready for serious discussing. "You've been pretty good about the idea that once we find out about Sheba, we leave, and Garet comes along with us. Why?"

            "I am certain the role of leader of the Pajaros can be easily filled by any of our men or women," she said, in effect answering the question and yet giving no answer at all.

            "You don't trust outsiders, that much is plain," said Sheba. "Well, some of you don't, at any rate."

            "Korain is angry because our previous leader, Milas, was his brother," Dulo said, shaking his head. "Korain expected to fill that position once his brother either died in battle or was killed by Korain himself."

            "Very interesting line of ascension around here."

            "Before Milas, leaders were elected. When he killed the ruler before him, this became accepted by some of the more…aggressive members of the Pajaros," said Iasa. "It was the idea, so I am told, of the man who preceded Milas to train our Venus Adepts, few though they were, as warriors that would fight the evil creatures that sometimes showed themselves around this forest."

            "That was long before the eruption of Mount Aleph," said Isaac doubtfully. "There were evil monsters even then?"

            "Mount Aleph? What is that?"

            "Large volcanic mountain. Erupted and blasted Psynergetically-charged stones everywhere. Corrupted normal animals and such into savage beasts looking to kill."

            "Not to mention made a couple of talking trees really angry," Garet added.

            "You will never stop with those trees, will you?" Mia asked exasperatedly.

            "No, I don't think I will."

            "I don't think you will either. I think you are Garet," said Isaac, attempting to make a joke. The others just stared at him. "Why do I get the feeling that if Ivan were here, he would have made that exact same line hilarious?"

            "It's in the inflection, I think," said Garet thoughtfully. "Inflection, timing, and understanding of punch line." 

             "I'll keep it in mind. Now back to the leader business. You look like there's something else you want to say, Dulo," said Isaac, turning to the man.

            "Two things, actually. One is that the majority of us would very much like to have a village again, if only a small one, just a place to call permanent home. I'm afraid Milas and some of his followers wiped out the Hesperia Settlement southwest of here."

            "We noticed," said Garet. "And the second thing?"

            "We are…having trouble with beasts that come down from the mountains that protect Shaman Village. They are large and seem made of stone. Our Venus and Jupiter Adepts have tried quite hard to keep them at bay, another reason for being constantly on the move. As it is, we've only provided more work for Iasa, Samin and Baili to do, in addition to the ordinary things." 

            "They sound like some form of Golem," said Isaac, closing his eyes in thought. "What color are they?"

            "A pink that makes one wonder about whether or not the Universe has a sense of humor," said Iasa. 

            "Grand Golems, then," said Isaac, frowning. "Those are quite strong. They were a challenge, when we fought them in Venus Lighthouse. Doubtless these are no less of one."

            "Our warriors have been able to hold them off, thus far," said Dulo. "This task, however, gets more difficult by the day."

            "They attack every day?" Sheba, who had spoken little up to this point, seemed suddenly quite concerned.

            "Just about," Dulo admitted. "That is why you found a group of our warriors where you did. We are ready to move again, as soon as we find a usable place." 

            The four Adepts looked at each other. There were a few moments of silent conversation, courtesy of Sheba's linking their minds together, in which they decided that yes, it was possible, most likely, to get rid of this threat. With a bit of luck.

            Garet was about to tell Dulo and Iasa that the four of them would gladly help get rid of the large pest problem, but he was stopped by a noise that resembled the honking that came from a flight of geese. 

            "The warning signal," said Dulo forebodingly. "Another attack is coming."

            "You have a warning system?" Mia asked conversationally.

            "A good one too. They won't be here for about an hour yet, and we've got time to prepare." 

            The Adepts nodded, having regained the majority of their Psynergy and all of their enthusiasm. The four of them began to follow Dulo through the trees, but Mia stopped when she saw Iasa heading the other way.

            "And where are you going?" she asked sharply. Iasa turned around.

            "To meet Samin and Baili, of course," Iasa replied, as though this was nothing out of the ordinary.

            "You're not going to help fight these things off?"

            "I'm near useless in a fight," Iasa admitted, glancing at the ground. "My attack Psynergy never got farther than Prism and Ice. I'd be of no use."

            "That's what you think," said Mia. Up until now, Mia had been quite put off that, when she had needed Psynergy most, she hadn't been able to use any, but Iasa had just come 'waltzing up' and been at full power. "Everyone can be useful," Mia continued, reaching out and grabbing the girl's sleeve.

            "What? I…I can't…" Iasa protested, but Mia pulled her along, stopping by her pack and digging around until she produced a mace. 

            "Knew I had one, somewhere," Mia said in a satisfied tone, handing it to Iasa. "Here. If one of them gets too close, use it."

            "Do you not get it?" Iasa practically screamed. "I cannot battle! My Psynergy is not strong enough; I would be nothing more than a hindrance!"

            "Do _you_ not get it?" Mia countered. "Certainly, you've got about a hundred each of Jupiter and Venus out there, plus Garet, and myself, but Venus Adepts just aren't going to hold against Grand Golems, and not even all of your Jupiter Adepts together can take down such large numbers."

            "This has nothing yet to do with how I can help," Iasa mumbled, though she had caught on quite quickly. Indeed, Mia had at first thought Iasa was afraid to join the fight, or had perhaps thought she was too important to risk, but now she wasn't so sure.

            "Of course it does, and you know it. We have an hour, or just under. Stay towards the back if you want," Mia continued as they caught up to the others. "If you see anything you can help with, then do so."

            "I hear the sound of the admiral of a one-woman army," whispered Isaac. Garet smiled, and Sheba tried her best to smother giggles. 

            "Dulo!" called out a voice. The Adepts stopped, looking up into the trees. A small girl with short violet hair was waving frantically. "They're moving faster than we thought! And there are more of them! Over a thousand!"

            "A thousand," Garet whispered, and Isaac whistled. 

            "That is all they have in those mountains. Just over one thousand," said Iasa quietly. "If we can take them today, we are free of the problem for good." Iasa looked down at the mace in her hands, swinging it cautiously. 

            "Alright, Iasa," said Mia, facing the other Mercury Adept sternly, arms folded, face serious. "What is the _real_ reason you don't want to fight? Because you're not arrogant, though I doubted it at first, and you're certainly not frightened."

            Iasa seemed reluctant to speak. Isaac looked at her, nodded to himself, and spoke for her.

            "I know what it is," he said. The others looked at him curiously. "She's never purposely harmed a living being before, much less killed one, monster or no."

            "How…how did you…know?" Iasa looked at Isaac with gratitude in her eyes.

            "He's perceptive, for someone who likes rocks," said Sheba. "I see something familiar and bright pink. And I'd rather not."

            "If we get split up," said Garet, "send a Psynergy blast into the air or something, if anything goes wrong."

            _Maybe you should give him a chance at leader more often,_ Isaac thought to himself.

            _No, don't_, Sheba's thought-voice cautioned.

            _Do you always listen in?_

            _I've had a…a vision about this one. Something is going to happen, and soon, that will scare Garet from the position of leader for a very long time._

            _What is it?_

            _I don't know. I got the sense that I was there for it, and yet I wasn't there. But dream-visions are seldom logical_.

            _You know, your dreams don't usually scare me. Now, if Ivan started having prophetic dreams, it would frighten me enough that I might stay inside until it had stopped happening. But for some reason that information doesn't comfort me_.

            _You're a lot more talkative in your mind than you are out loud_, Sheba thought, giving Isaac the mental equivalent of a sly grin.

            _Well, usually in here no one can hear me be a fool_, Isaac pointed out. Sheba was about to reply, but the next several minutes went by very quickly and her comeback was lost forever to the depths of her mind. 

            Grand Golems are, first of all, a shade of pink that puts one in mind of a watermelon crossed with an eraser made of bubble gum. It had been a theory with the Adepts for some time that the stranger an enemy's color was, the more powerful it must be, or else birds of flame would be various reds, oranges and yellows, monkeys would be fur-colored and not blue, and a Kraken would resemble a water creature, at least in hue. This held, of course, with the Grand Golems. 

            Isaac was personally very familiar with the Truncheon Fist attack that seemed to be the Grand Golem default, and he found himself not loving or even mildly welcoming the prospect of facing it again, multiplied by a thousand. 

            The massive pink wave struck the gathered Adepts and, to their apparent horror (though it's hard to discern emotion on the faces of rock-beasts), did not get much farther before being pelted with variations of the Plasma attack. Sheba and perhaps two others were good enough to be able to use Spark Plasma; many of the others had Shine Plasma as their most powerful attack, and there were a select few that had never passed Plasma itself.

            "Inferno!" Garet cried, raising a hand. Giant balls of flame rose around him, slamming into a group of the Grand Golems and felling them where they stood. The nearest fighters turned and stared.

            "Excuse us," one said after a brief pause. Garet recognized her as Riali, the girl they'd taken with them when they'd found she was still living. "We have never seen a Mars Adept before. Most of us…most of _them_…don't even know what one is."

            "How can you not?" Garet questioned. "Jupiter Adepts know everything!"

            "They can't know something that is beyond their experience. Only three of our Jupiter Adepts have the power of prophecy, and even they did not see the four of you arriving."

            _No Jupiter Adept here could have factored in Kraden, is why_, Garet heard Scorch grumble. _I'm starting to be really glad we left him in Champa_.

            _That is why Isaac's the leader_, said Torch, _and not the boy here_.

            _Take your conversation elsewhere,_ Garet's mind growled menacingly. The Djinn instantly complied, their voices vanishing from thought.

            Still, the monsters greatly outnumbered the Adepts, and they began to push through. Garet found himself and two others surrounded by four of the behemoths, and called on Coal, making it easier for them to dodge the pink beasts' swinging fists.

            Smiling savagely, he reached inside himself for a power that he rarely attempted, because of its destructive qualities, and also because it was too easy for him to lose control of it. 

            "_Liquefier_!" he yelled, throwing both arms skyward. The two Adepts trapped with him watched as he appeared to be consumed by white-hot flames, which arced into the sky and came down on a cluster of the Grand Golems with lethal accuracy, destroying them and sending smaller light blasts in all directions.

            Isaac, from where he was with Sheba and a bunch of Jupiter Adepts, saw some of this and smiled despite himself. "I love it when I'm inspired," he muttered, and Sheba stared at him.

            "Odyssey!" he said, but before the first Psynergetic sword could take shape and begin the attack, an enormous pink fist slammed into him, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him sprawling. Another of the beasts kicked as he neared it, and Isaac found himself flying in the _other_ direction now, and only doing it semi-consciously. 

            "Whirlwind!" Sheba cried, having watched in horror as Isaac was tossed around like some sort of human ball and finally coming to herself and doing something about it. The winds were not designed to attack one of the monsters; rather, they caught Isaac and pulled him gently to the ground.

            _Jupiter Adepts may not be dual-focused_, Sheba thought with a mental grin, _but we sure do our jobs well_. Of course, she wasn't actually smiling. Indeed, she was quite angry, and made a point of letting them know it with another round of Spark Plasma.

            Mia found herself preoccupied on a number of levels. Out of the corner of her eye, she was watching Iasa, whose attacks, while spirited, lacked the power to even scratch the Grand Golems. With the remainder of that eye she was watching said Golems, shooting Ice Missiles and Glaciers at them as the need arose. _It's the Jupiter Adepts that will be most effective here_, she noted. 

            And with the rest of her vision, she saw Isaac thrown about, and pulled back to the ground by a spiraling wind. She let out a scream, partly from shock and partly from anger. Her next thoughts, were they in actual words and not a series of growls and snarls, roughly translated to, "How dare they."

            The battle went on for about an hour before it became apparent that the Adepts had gained the upper hand. With the odds in their favor, the Pajaros people attacked even more vehemently, despite weariness and lack of Psynergy. 

            "Pyroclasm!" Garet called, sending five Grand Golems flying, ignoring the continued stares from a few of the nearby Pajaros. 

            Mia launched yet another Ice Missile, watching with satisfaction as it took down three of the monsters. Behind her, Iasa gasped. She had never seen such a battle before, on such a grand scale and with so many working together.

            Isaac, his Psynergy virtually useless against Venus-resistant Grand Golems, chose to bring the fury of the Sol Blade down upon any who got near him. And it was working, too. 

            Sheba spotted them first. The last little cluster of them, all that remained of the great Grand Golem attacking force. Not only did she spot them, she _targeted_ them, and this made a world of difference. "Spark Plasma!" she yelled, and the remainder of the threat fell with her words.

            There were a few moments of stunned silence. About one hundred fifty Adepts all looked at one another, eyes wide, smiles forming ever so slowly. Then, as one, the Pajaros people let out a victory cry. Several of them hoisted Garet (a feat indeed) onto their shoulders, despite their exhaustion.

            "It is because of our brave leader that we achieve victory this day!" one of them called, and the others yelled back as the entirety of the tribe made its way slowly back to where they were camped.

            This left Mia, Sheba and Isaac virtually alone. Mia hurried to where Isaac and Sheba were, both of them on the ground, though for very different reasons. 

            "Who made him leader?" Isaac mumbled, blinking slowly. Sheba remained carefully silent. With a sigh that fell between resignation and relief, Mia slipped one of Isaac's arms over her shoulder and stood. Sheba looked at them, at a loss. Four inches wasn't much, usually, but here it sure seemed like it.

            "Just half an inch and you'll catch Ivan," Mia said consolingly.

            "I can catch him without growing. He runs slow," Sheba offered halfheartedly, smiling. Mia smiled back, and, at about the same pace as the Pajaros tribe, the three Adepts walked (in theory, at least) back to the tribe's current residence.

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Well…they won. In their own way. Next chapter, Garet (and Isaac, when he wakes up) has a proposition for the people of Pajaros. Hope they like it. Does anyone know what happens to a person who gets really cold? …Doesn't matter if y'do or not, come to think of it…especially since I've written all the chapters already. *evil maniacal laughter* 

Button must be pushed. Maybe I'll be real nice and post the next chapter by…let's say…Friday. But that's only if you review! 


	5. Pajaran Duel

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: Hello again! I have three things to say.

First and most important is HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELENA! This chapter's dedicated to you on your b-day!! 

Second, for anyone who is wondering, 'Pajaros' is pronounced '**pa**-ha-ros'. Extra points to anyone who can figure out what it means.

Third…it be 'Talk like a Pirate Day' today, mateys! Arr! 

Hail: Ye've got to practice it a bit, say I!

Oh lord…a muse…not _Hail_, anyone but _Hail_…oh well. 

**Triad:** You finally read it! After you read this one, no pizza!

**Jupiter Sprite:** What word? TELL!!! And…heh…you'll enjoy how evil I am in this chapter… 

**Elena:** To Garet? …nah…;)

**Akiko:** Thanks, but I actually did know that, and…heh…wait until you see what I _do_ with it…

**Shiro:** No! Don't be dying of the suspense! If you die of the suspense you'll never be reading the rest of the story!!

On with it, or I'll 'ave yer 'eads and load yer bodies into the cannons! Arr!

Chapter Five: Pajaran Duel 

            Six days had passed in the encampment of the Pajaros tribe. Three of those days had been quite an experience for the four Adepts. Mia had been with Iasa and the handful of Venus Adepts who knew healing Psynergy (though not Isaac) for the majority of that time. Garet, while not discussing various things with either Riali or Dulo (easily the most knowledgeable of any of the tribespeople), had been devising a plan with the two of them and Isaac, joined occasionally, over the past three days, by the Mercury Adepts. 

            Sheba had been mostly exploring. And worrying. Combination of both, when the situation allowed. After all…if this really was her home…then were these people her family? People like Jaldo, and Korain and Riali? If she truly did belong, would she want to stay, or leave?

            And then there was the possibility that she didn't come from Pajaros. Easy enough to think of—Pajaros and Lalivero would have been far, far apart, back when Pajaros was a village. But if not here, then where? 

            So, to take her mind off these things—though all she succeeded in doing was keeping her mind on them—she decided to walk around a bit. First, up and down both sides of the river—a wide log served as a bridge. Then out a bit into the forest—there were seldom any monsters, and the few there were, Sheba easily defeated. 

            "Do you think it's wise to go off by yourself like this all the time?" asked Haze. 

            "Don't you think Isaac and the others will wonder where you've gone?" put in Breath. Sheba frowned.

            "You guys worry too much. I'm a member of their team too you know—being youngest and smallest doesn't make me helpless." Sheba had found a rough path, leading into the trees. She was walking on it, and silently thanking the Djinn for removing her concerns from her mind, even if it was only temporary. 

            "And you're the fastest, and most agile, and lightest, and most mysterious!" offered Blitz. Sheba grinned. 

            "You left out 'most likely to not listen to orders,'" muttered Gale. 

            "That's not her, that's Felix," protested Haze.

            "Felix _gives_ the orders, you numbskull," said Lull. 

            "Not since they met up with Isaac. Isaac's the Leader with a capital L and everything!" said Gasp haughtily. 

            "Hn," was all Wheeze would offer. 

            "Not that again," grumbled Gale. "Next he'll be on about 'stupid humans' and how there's something to be said for fiery dragons and why it is that being short is not at all a height disadvantage."

            "All that from one 'hn'?" asked Sheba incredulously.

            "Wheeze has a…a thing going on. Sort of indifferent in an aggressive way," explained Gale.

            "It's a _long_ story," said Aroma. "Do us all a favor and be content with that." 

            "Right."

            "How long until you eat, Sheba?" complained Gasp. "You're hungry." 

            "Thanks for telling me," Sheba said dryly. "I certainly didn't notice myself. I'll get to the end of this path, then stop to eat. I promise," she added when Breath began to protest. "I don't want to hear it from you, either. I might as well have brought Mia along."

            "She has a point, Breath," said Blitz.

            "I _was_ useful at one point, you know," Breath grumbled. "Way back when the three of you were trekking from Madra to Alhafra, through that awful desert. Useful then, wasn't I?" 

            "Sure, when Felix ran out of Psynergy," Blitz said. "I was there too, you know."

            "Yes, and so was I," said Sheba irritably. "Now would all of you mind? I'd like privacy!"

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "You're positive you want to have a village again, Dulo?" Garet asked. Dulo nodded.

            "We know now the benefit of teamwork, of uniting together to face our problems. It is easier to defend a stationary, permanent home than the next random clearing we come upon. We can have better defenses." 

            "Is there another reason?" asked Isaac.

            "There is," said Dulo, smiling faintly. "We want a home again."

            "A home isn't a place," said Garet, eyes going distant, as though focused on somewhere far away, and his voice taking on a thoughtful quality. "It's being with the people you love, and who love you back. Being with your friends and family and knowing that you can face anything as long as you have each other. That's home."

            Isaac, Riali and Dulo stared. 

            "So you have a home already, Dulo. Your home is everywhere and anywhere your people go. But we'd be glad to build you a village," he added, seeing the looks on their faces. 

            "That was _deep_," said Isaac finally. "Did you get hit on the head or something?"

            "Isaac! Can't I be sagely and philosophical for once in my life?"

            "No. It's just not you. Maybe this leader thing _has_ gotten to you."

            "Stop it, Isaac. All that stuff was serious."

            "Speaking of serious," said Riali quietly, "did any of you notice the absence of a certain Adept from the Golem battle?"

            "It was many days ago," Dulo pointed out.

            "Korain," said Isaac and Garet together.

            "Yes," Riali agreed. "He was not with us when the fight began, nor anywhere to be seen when it ended."

            "Let's not think about it," Dulo mumbled. "He's got his own agenda and if he wants to go off on his own, may a creature rid us of him for good!"

            "Well then we'd best get to building, hadn't we?" Riali asked after a pause, rising and leaving the hut-like building they'd been sitting in. There was a sudden click, and a gasp, and the sound made by someone crumpling to the ground. Isaac, Dulo and Garet hurried outside.

            "Riali!" said Isaac, looking at the fallen girl, a thrown knife sunk up to the handle in her stomach. 

            "Alright," Garet said, eyes flaring, voice furious. "Who did this? Who's responsible?!"

            "That would be me, outsider," said a familiar voice. Korain emerged from the trees, with as much anger written on his face as there was on Garet's. "Far more responsible than a buffoon such as you could possibly be as leader of a people." 

            "Why? She's one of your own people!"

            "Any who consort with dangerous intruders like you deserves such. I assure you, once you fall, your friends and Dulo and Iasa will be next. Or perhaps I'll save you for last and let you watch them all die."

            "You would never take Iasa!" said Dulo angrily. "She's more than a match for you, and you know it!"

            "If that is so, then why was Iasa reluctant to fight the Grand Golem horde?" Isaac asked, pausing for a moment and looking up at Dulo from his position on the ground near Riali. 

            "Her Psynergy is a powerful thing, to be sure, but she has seen how power can corrupt a person, twist their minds inside out until they can do nothing but crave more power. She prefers to leave the others to it and do whatever she can that doesn't involve climbing the ranks through killing."

            "Iasa would fall to me easily, and willingly, if I had one of you alive and captive," Korain said smugly.

            "Are you insane?" Garet asked in a strained voice. "You can't possibly win against an entire tribe of Adepts, Korain! There isn't any way! Isaac couldn't even do it, and he's the best there is on Weyard!" 

            "We shall see," said Korain coldly. "I challenge you, unwelcome leader of the Pajaros, to a duel. _To the death_. The winner claims leadership, leading however he desires. The loser, of course, dies. I promise to make it quick and painless for you," he added with a sneer. 

            "Garet, you can't possibly agree to this! He could kill you, and we'd all be lost causes," Isaac said seriously. Garet looked down at his best friend and met a pair of azure eyes that, for the first time Garet could remember since Mars Lighthouse, held concern and even fear in their depths. 

            "You could handle him, Isaac, if something happened to me," Garet reassured him.

            "No, Garet. Don't you see? He's not like the others."

            "What do you mean?"

            "Korain studies Psynergy that is different from any other," said Dulo solemnly. "He is easily the most dangerous man in the tribe, now that Milas is dead."

            "Well, outsider?" Korain taunted. "Do you accept?"

            Garet met midnight-black eyes with his own brown ones, knowing that all Korain was focused on was his death and that he'd attempt anything to achieve that goal. 

            "I accept," Garet said, his voice ringing out into the sudden silence.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "You lied?" Mia asked, shocked. Iasa nodded glumly. 

            "I'm sorry. I don't like to fight. It just feels so…so wrong. I despise having power, and I don't want to fall into the trap of becoming so greedy for it that I'm never satisfied." Iasa looked up and met Mia's eyes. "Let the others gain power and battle for the place at the top. I'm happy right here."

            "Using attacks like Ice Missile and Freeze Prism to save your tribe aren't going to make you power-hungry. Besides, you already do hold the top spot here."

            "I…I what?"

            "Look, Iasa, I get annoyed with people who play dumb with me. Without you here, how many of your tribespeople wouldn't be alive today?" Iasa seemed about to answer, but suddenly stopped. "I thought as much. You're probably only my age, or just under, but you're easily the strongest person, and the best candidate for leader, in this entire tribe. That says something."

            "It says I did not get there on purpose, and I do not want the title."

            "It doesn't matter whether you want the title or not!" Mia shouted, her mind carrying her back to that day atop Mercury Lighthouse, when she had realized that going with Isaac, Garet and Ivan wasn't a choice—it was something she had to do. "You've been given it, through actions _and_ words, like it or no, and you've got to live up to that!"

            "I do live up to it!" Iasa countered. "I am the only Mercury Adept here, Mia! There is only so much one person can _do_!"

            "Anything's possible," Mia argued. "There's enough time to do everything you need to do, before it ends. There always is. You're in this position because you spent your life doing things you loved, right?"

            "Yes."

            "Then you set out to be what you are now from the beginning, whether you thought so at the time or not, Iasa. I've seen the way the Pajaros grow silent when you begin to speak, the way most of them trust your decisions as the right ones." 

            Mia was about to go on, but Dulo came running up to them then, breathing hard and looking quite frightened.

            "Dulo?" asked Iasa, standing and putting down what she'd been busy with. "What is it?"

            "It's her friend!" Dulo huffed, gesturing to Mia. "Our leader! Garet! He…Korain challenged him…and he's…agreed to a duel…to the death! They're…fighting now…Isaac told me…to come get you, Mia…"

            Mia was already off running, Iasa in close pursuit. Dulo turned and followed them, ignoring the images that entered his mind when he thought of the last time Korain had fought an opponent. He didn't want to see Garet end up that way.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "Well at least you aren't hungry anymore," offered Gasp consolingly. 

            "Point," agreed Haze.

            "Hn," said Wheeze indifferently. 

            "Tell him to stop that before I hurt him," said Blitz threateningly. 

            "I would, but I'd be afraid of what he'd do to me," mumbled Breath. "Besides, you all still think I'm useless."

            "You're not useless," Sheba said in exasperation. "You'll qualify for 'useful' if you can get me unlost." 

            "That isn't a word, Sheba," said Waft.

            "I don't know what time it is, it's getting cold under all these trees, I've been walking all day and I'm out of food. Do you really think I care if 'unlost' doesn't qualify as a real word?"

            "Put that way, no," admitted Haze. "Could you maybe look on the bright side?"

            "It's dark in the forest," Aroma pointed out. 

            "What might that bright side be, then?" asked Lull. 

            "You've got company!" said Haze happily.

            "Yes, and I've spent the last hour looking like some sort of Djinn tree," Sheba grumbled. Three Djinn were on her head, one was on each shoulder, two hovered in the air directly in front of her and two rode atop her staff. 

            "Hey, I hear water," said Blitz, and Sheba stopped, listening. The sound of rushing water _was_ close by, though possibly not as close as Sheba would have liked. Still…she was very thirsty. Turning, she began to head in the direction of the sound.

            Quite sooner than she'd expected, she came across the river. Whether it was the same river that ran so near to the Pajaros camp or not, she didn't know without a map. Kneeling beside it, she let her hands fill with water and took a long drink.

            "Sheba! Look out!" cried one of her Djinn. Turning back around, Sheba found herself face-to-face with two Wolfkins. Grabbing her staff, she brought it up in front of her defensively.

            One of the Wolfkins dove at her. Sheba easily vaulted over it, only to be caught in midair as the second one slammed into her, sending her tumbling down the rocky bank and into the swift river.

            "Sheba!" the Djinn were calling, but Sheba, barely coherent and choking on water, couldn't answer. The Djinn followed her at record speed, racing along just above where she was in the water.

            Suddenly, Gasp shot ahead and down—_down_, the other Djinn realized. They were coming to the waterfall. Gasp returned moments later, very wet but looking pleased with herself. 

            Sheba was vaguely aware of beginning to fall with the water, and of the fall suddenly stopping. She could still hear the roar of the waterfall, but it was beginning to fade, and soon did as she blacked out.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            Garet and Korain faced each other, identical expressions of rage locked on their faces. Simultaneously, they each raised a hand to call on Psynergy.

            "Flare Storm!" cried Garet.

            "Demon Night!" yelled Korain. A giant wall of flames surrounded Korain and began to close in, never abating, while at the same time hordes of monsters appeared seemingly out of the ground to advance on Garet.

            Garet drew his sword and began hacking, fending them off as best he could. A familiar spark lit in his eye, and he raised the Fire Brand high. "Purgatory!" he called, and the weapon's Psynergy destroyed the advancing demons. 

            Grinning, Garet looked over at Korain in time to see the man step through the flames unharmed. Garet's grin faded into a scowl.

            "Inferno!"

            "Sabre Dance!" Fireballs pelted Korain repeatedly, but he batted each one aside with his own sword. Shining blades made of some sort of steel-like material were performing a complex dance around Garet, striking at him repeatedly as he tried to dodge. 

            Korain could not block every fireball, and Garet could not evade every saber. Both of them emerged from their attacks looking the worse for wear. 

            Garet fought to ignore the dozen or so places where a saber had sliced him, instead trying to focus on the battle. Korain looked as beaten as he felt, which gave Garet at least a little pleasure as he thought about it.

            "Thorny Grave!" said Korain, and a beast made of sharp plants leaped from nearby foliage, swinging its lethal arms at Garet. The Mars Adept was unfazed, however.

            "Plants burn," he said maliciously. "Unleash Scorch!" The Mars Djinni slammed into the thorn monster, taking it down in a rush of flames. 

            "You will never be accepted here, outsider!" yelled Korain. "Skull Splitter!" Raising his sword, Korain leapt. Garet watched helplessly as Korain's blade became charged with Venus light and picked up speed. The Mars Adept knew he could never bring his own weapon up in time.

            There was a loud metallic 'clang' and the sword connected with Garet's head. He dropped instantly.

            "_Garet_!" Mia and Isaac yelled. Mia began to run to him, Isaac close behind, when she saw something and came to a sudden stop.

            A circle of spiky metal lay halved on the ground. The Thorn Crown had been on Garet's head—most Psynergetically-charged armor had the added bonus of becoming both invisible and nearly weightless.

            Garet stood slowly, a grin spreading across his face. 

            "Pyroclasm!" he roared, bringing forth Mars power in all its glory. 

            "Grand Golem!" called Korain smugly. One of the large pink rock-beasts materialized just as all the fury of a volcanic island chain erupted around Korain. Garet was hit by a Truncheon Fist and thrown to the ground, but managed to kick the Grand Golem back into the fires of Pyroclasm, destroying it.

            Several minutes passed. Finally, Garet pulled himself to his feet. Almost immediately, Korain did likewise. Their eyes met again. _This is it_, Garet thought. _It's either all-out now, or never at all_.

            "You summoned those beasts from the mountains!" Iasa accused.

            "That's right," Korain said haughtily. "I always knew you were too smart for your own good, Iasa. After I destroy this punk I intend to remedy that." 

            "Don't disregard me just yet," Garet said, challenge obvious in his voice. There was a pause, and Isaac could feel a momentous gathering of Venus Psynergy as Korain prepared for his final attack.

            "_Annihilation_!" he screamed, becoming a channel for pure Venus power.

            "_Liquefier_!" Garet bellowed, throwing both arms to the sky and letting his anger fuel his attack.

            There was a violent explosion. Red-gold light slammed into Korain just as he leapt to destroy Garet. For a moment Garet thought a being of pure flame was attacking him, swinging a sword of molten steel. Feeling heat beyond anything even he could withstand, he fell to his knees.

            It ended. Mia gasped. Both combatants not only still lived, but they were again standing.

            "No more Psynergy," growled Korain, looking at his now-sharper sword.

            "Agreed," snarled Garet, raising his own weapon. Moving faster than seemed at all possible in their respective conditions, Garet and Korain slashed and struck and blocked, each waiting for the opportune moment—the chance to land the fatal blow.

            Garet saw his chance. Korain had lunged forward, eager to kill, leaving him off-balance with his weight forward. Garet ducked the slash and kicked out a foot, tripping Korain so he landed on his face on the ground. With a flick of his wrist, Garet used his sword to throw Korain's far across the clearing. With his boot, the Mars Adept rolled his opponent onto his back.

            Korain hissed something, and Garet scowled. "Didn't quite catch that," he said menacingly.

            "Kill…me…" Korain growled. "It was…a battle to…the death. Kill me!"

            "I will not," Garet said clearly, staring down at Korain with utter hatred. 

            "What? Have you…no mercy?"

            "It's mercy that makes me let you live. It will be up to your next leader to decide how to best punish you," Garet said calmly, though inside he was seething with rage. His conscience and better judgment told him that to kill Korain would be wrong, and he chose to listen to that instinct. 

            Korain's eyes closed. It was possible he'd die anyway, Garet decided, sheathing his sword and turning to rejoin Isaac and Mia.

            He didn't go three steps before he collapsed.

************************************************************************

 Ah, the end of another chapter. Two cliffhangers in one! Isn't it wonderful? I am evil, aren't I? Go on…review. If you don't…you may never get the next chapter. *cackles evilly*

Hail: Ye'd best push that review button, matey. Ye wouldn't want me t'get violent, now, would ye? Freezin's fun, say I…

Stop droning, Hail. REVIEW!!!


	6. The Price of Leadership

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: All I can say for the effort of this chapter is, I made the valiant attempt. Twelve pages isn't bad, right?

First, the conversation that begins this chapter is actually several conversations at once and not at all in any recurring order. Enjoy that. 

**Midnight:** Ah, that's ok Mid, I like having Hail as a muse. Better than some others I could've gotten.

Hail: 'R else. 

Right

**Jupiter Sprite:** Well, double cliffhangers would be the only evil thing I haven't seen in a fic until now. So that's what I did.

I'm only gonna say that little bit because this chapter is long enough as it is. READ IT! I didn't do all that work for my health, you know…*rereads last sentence and dissolves into insane laugher*

Chapter Six: The Price of Leadership

            "You know, you can always just leave. It's not like anything's about to happen anytime soon."

            "What do you mean? As soon as Isaac comes back we're going to start building this village!"

            "Oh, sure it will. Lots of things happen around here, haven't you noticed?"

            "With what, might I ask? We can't exactly cut down the trees or anything—we don't know how to build things that way."

            "Where'd Isaac go anyway?"

            "And it's not like _you'll_ be building anything anyway."

            "He went to find Dulo and Riali and whatever Venus Adepts know plant Psynergy."

            "And why not?" 

            "How many do you think that is?"

            "Did you consider that maybe we're supposed to be being quiet?"

            "Because you're about the size of an apple."

            "Probably a good twenty or so. Maybe more."

            "Why would we be?"

            "Wow, really? That's a lot. Considering we've only got eight, usually."

            "Who cares what size I am? I want to help them!"

            "You would."

            "And what's wrong with that?"

            "But they've got about two hundred, total. Compared to that, twenty's nothing."

            "I don't know, maybe because _your Adept is still asleep and you're about to wake him up_!" 

            The sound of Mia's voice froze Fever, Scorch, Coal, Ember, Forge and Mist in mid-speech. Slowly, they turned to look at her, conveying as much fear as it was possible for them to convey—except Mist, who only looked mildly shaken. 

            "Mars Djinn, get back in my head," Garet mumbled, rolling over and running a hand through his wild hair. "What time is it, someone?"

            "Eleven," offered Ember.

            "In the morning?"

            "That'd be the one."

            "Who let me sleep in?"

            "Well, we weren't really given a _choice_," grumbled Fever, glancing Mia's way. "A pair of Mercury Adepts and several Venus ones were constantly telling us to shut up."

            "Go back to sleep, Garet," Mia said sweetly, though somehow her words still carried the undertone of 'or I'll hang you upside-down by your toes in the well.'

            "I don't think so," he said, and the Djinn disappeared back into his mind, as did Mist into Mia's. 

            "I _do_ think so," Mia argued, her eyes taking on the glare that was rivaled only by Jenna's. Garet remained unfazed for what was probably only the third time in his life.

            "What happened to deathman?" was what he asked, rummaging through his bag for a shirt in the process.

            "Korain? He isn't dead, if that's what you mean. Garet, if you think you can distract me—"

            "Mia, leave him alone," said Isaac, walking into the tent/hut thing with a distracted smile on his face. "We have things to be doing today, and it's going to require everyone's help."

            "Isaac, you know I love you dearly, but…_are you crazy_?" Mia asked. "You can't seriously think that he…that _we_…"

            "I've never known you to stutter, Mia," Garet snickered. 

            "Shut up, Mars Adept."

            "I think that was supposed to be insulting," Garet said dryly. "Look, just because you…that you can…"

            "Now who's stuttering?" Mia shot back, smiling smugly. 

            "Both of you stop it," Isaac said calmly. "Look. The idea here is to build these homes somewhere safe from potential enemies. We were thinking, how about in the trees?"

            "That's certainly safe," Mia agreed.

            "How, though? I mean…none of us has Psynergy that's good for growing things," Garet observed.

            "Simple," said Isaac confidently. "We switch Djinn."

            "How did I know it would come to this?" Garet groaned. "What am I going to be _this_ time?"

            "Bane says if we each take three of each others' Djinn, we'll all have plant-related Psynergies."

            "Why can't the two of you just switch and get Growth?" Mia asked.

            "Because then where would you be?"

            "Elsewhere."

            "That reminds me," said Garet, looking thoughtful. "Where's Sheba?"

            "You've seen what she's been like these past few days. Comes back late, leaves early. Almost like she's worried about something," Isaac added. 

            "I would be too, if I might have finally found my home. Maybe she thinks they'll want her to stay, if they find out she's from Pajaros," Mia said. 

            "Alright, I'm awake," Garet said after a moment's pause. "Neither of you are going to change it, so would you mind giving me a little privacy?"

            Mia and Isaac looked at one another, shrugged and left. Of course, not five steps away Mia stopped Isaac, grabbing his shoulder in a grip of steel.

            "That's a bit tight," he commented, turning to face her.

            "Come off it!" she hissed. "You know very well that after yesterday Garet's in no condition to be climbing things and building things and using any Psynergy at all, especially one that isn't his!"

            "Will you relax?" Isaac asked quietly, prying her fingers from his shoulder and holding her hand in both of his. "I think in some backwards way you just insulted your own abilities, and mine, and Iasa's, just then. Look, this plan works, alright? I promise."

            "Alright, Isaac," Mia said, sighing. They turned, hands still locked, as Garet came out, looking tired but strangely happy.

            "Well, at least you saved it until you were outside," he offered cheerfully. "Come on, if we're going to switch things around we might as well get it over it."

            "The leader thing hasn't gone to your head, has it?" Isaac asked, genuinely curious.

            "Nah. It's more the living thing. Good to be here and such. I probably wouldn't even mind a swim in the river, if that's what it took." 

            "No, I don't think that'll be part of building tree houses."

            "That reminds me. If we're going to mess with the Djinn, better do it now," Garet said, and six Mars Djinn appeared on the ground in front of him. "Whoa…sheesh, I forgot what it was like with only three Djinn." 

            "So did I," Isaac agreed as six of his Djinn popped out as well. Reluctantly, six of Mia's showed up too. 

            "What was it Bane said we should do?" Garet asked, looking at Isaac.

            "Three of each," Isaac replied. Instantly, three Venus and three Mercury Djinn joined Garet, three Mars and three Mercury joined Isaac, and three Venus and three Mars joined Mia. The three of them took a few steps backward.

            "I feel…different," was all Garet would offer. "Like there's something there that shouldn't be." 

            "Venus Psynergy, for one," Isaac said. "We're at the same class, and let me tell you, it's odd having Blast—the Fiery Blast version—sitting in the back of my mind waiting to be used."

            "Point. It must be…Thorn or whatever. How are we going to build them homes with thorny walls, anyway?"

            "I think it's more of just _using_ the plant Psynergy to…sort of get the trees to build things themselves," Mia said. Isaac and Garet stared at her for a few quiet moments.

            "How did you come up with that?" Isaac finally asked.

            "It just sounded right in my head," she said, shrugging. 

            "What _are_ you?" 

            "She's a Diviner," said Bane, appearing on Mia's head. 

            "Bane! What are you doing over there?" Isaac asked, rather shocked. 

            "Having a friendly chat with Balm, Dew, Sleet, Flash, Torch, Ember, Ground and Vine," he said. "Also, taking a break from your head, boy. It gets stupid in there."

            "Oh does it?" Isaac asked threateningly. 

            "Yes, boy, and put your Dragooneering attitude _away_, before I come over there and do it myself." 

            "Dragooneering isn't a word," Isaac muttered. Bane huffed and disappeared again. "Are we going to build a village or not?"

            "Something's still not right," Garet grumbled, following Isaac and Mia to the site where Pajaros was to be rebuilt. "It's nagging at the back of my mind, and I don't know what it is."

            _Then look harder_.

            _Oh no. Not _you. _What are _you_ doing in my head? I'd think you wanted to stay with Isaac._

            _No, no. I'm stuck _here_, with _you_, by some odd and totally awful twist of fate,_ muttered Quartz. Garet had to agree—he and Quartz worked together about as well as oil mixed with water. 

            _If you hate me so much then why tell me to look for something?_

            _I hate no one. And I tell you to look because I will relish your reaction when you do figure out what it is that's hiding back there_.

            _In that case, I won't be looking anytime soon,_ Garet thought angrily. 

            _Don't worry buddy_, said Scorch happily. _I'll fry that little Venus bugger the minute she gets out of here!_

            _I heard that, magma-brain!_ Quartz cried

            _At least I've _got_ a brain,_ Scorch retorted. 

            _Hardly_.

            _Wanna say that to my face, stone-head?_

            _I just did._

            _Both of you stop it! Not another word!_ Garet yelled. Quite unusually, his Djinn did indeed shut up, leaving him with a few moments' peace in which he tried to get rid of the feeling that there was something his mind didn't want to tell him. 

            Isaac, Mia and Garet met Dulo, Riali and about twenty-five Venus Adepts with either Growth or Thorn Psynergy. 

            "Alright…I'm a Mars Adept, and whether I'm your leader or not, I'm not quite sure how this will work. Mia?" Garet pleaded, turning to look at her. 

            "It's a mind thing," she said, a part of her mind rather amazed that these words were coming out without her knowing where they came _from_. "So really, we need a handful of Jupiter Adepts as well." 

            "Do we?" asked one Venus Adept. "They know nothing about plants!"

            "You expect to climb into trees with no branches low enough to reach?" Mia asked sharply. Said Adept shook his head adamantly. "Good."

            A few moments later, about a dozen Jupiter Adepts joined those gathered in the trees. 

            "It is here that the village of Pajaros once stood," said an old, weathered voice. Jaldo emerged from the trees, looking around as he did. "Where is your Jupiter Adept friend?" 

            "She's off…wandering," said Isaac, offering the best explanation he could.

            "The forest is dangerous," Jaldo said, shocked.

            "Sheba can take care of herself." 

            The next few hours were quite complicated indeed. Mia fished from the mind of a Diviner an adequate explanation of what needed to be done in order to make the trees into homes. Construction began soon after, and continued until well past lunch. Around midafternoon, Garet called a break, and everyone readily agreed to this plan.

            Isaac finally realized that Jaldo had emerged from wherever he'd been hiding, and the Venus Adept turned to the old man curiously.

            "Does Sheba…did she…was she born in Pajaros?" he asked.

            Jaldo closed his eyes for a long moment, then quietly gave his answer. 

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "I understand the sleeping at night thing, but really, it's been all day! Get up already!"

            "What?" 

            "You heard me! You've been out for about twenty-four hours and I'm sick of waiting!" Sheba blinked sleepily. She didn't understand why Gale was yelling so much. It wasn't like anything was going on—if there had been, someone would have told her.

            "You don't remember, is that it?" Aroma asked in a quieter voice. 

            "What is there not to remember?" Sheba asked. Opening her eyes the rest of the way, she looked around. She was in some sort of cave, and there was the very loud sound of…of rushing water…

            _I was knocked into the river, and I was too out of it to swim and I went over the waterfall…_Sheba's thoughts were an unusual confused jumble. One thought stood out from the rest of them, though, and she voiced this one aloud.

            "And how did I get _here_?" 

            "Some quick planning on my part," said Gasp quite proudly. "I found this cave behind the waterfall and the nine of us sort of…um…"

            "We threw you in here," said Gale above the roar of the water. "So you didn't end up floating somewhere at sea without a boat."

            "This was yesterday?" Sheba asked, shocked.

            "It was until midnight this morning," said Haze. Sheba sighed.

            "Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I wonder if Isaac, Garet or Mia even wonders where I am…probably not, since I've been coming back late and leaving early every day…and I so badly wanted to help them build…"

            "If they realize you're gone, doubtless they're out looking for you," Breath said consolingly. 

            "_If_ they realize," huffed Lull. "This is a Venus Adept and Garet we're talking about." 

            "What about Mia?" Sheba queried.

            "I don't mind her. She's got her head together." Sheba blinked. "_What_?"

            "That's an odd expression."

            "Hn."

            "Go _away_, Wheeze," said Waft exasperatedly. "He's been doing that about once every fifteen minutes," he explained to Sheba. "It gets annoying after a day." 

            "It got annoying after an hour," grumbled Blitz. 

            "Point taken."

            "You don't act like Felix is inferior," Sheba said to Lull. 

            "Felix…I owe him a debt," Lull said distantly. "He earned my respect."

            "You talk as though your respect is something he needs," Aroma mumbled.

            "What was that?!"  
            "Oh, nothing."

            Sheba shook her head, realizing with some frustration that she was still soaked. _Of course_, she thought. She was so near the waterfall it must be almost impossible for her do dry out. 

            "There's no exit to this cave," said Haze quietly. "It only goes back about fifteen feet from here, and just stops." 

            "You're saying that…that there's no way out of here?" Now there was something Sheba was truly afraid of—small, inescapable spaces. Any self-respecting Jupiter Adept disliked being in an enclosed space for prolonged periods, but with Sheba it had become a fear.

            "There is but one way out," said Haze softly, "and it isn't one you're going to like." Nine sets of Djinn eyes and one set of Adept ones focused on the cascading waters that covered the cave's opening.

            Sheba shivered reflexively, then realized that, being wet, she really was cold. "Oh great. Stuck in some wet cave and ready to freeze to death."

            "It won't get cold enough to freeze," said Blitz, though there was doubt in his voice. 

            "I wish I could believe you. What time is it?"

            "Maybe…four in the afternoon. Why?" asked Breath.

            "Oh good. Then you, Breath…if you can…go back to where the Pajaros are and _tell_ someone that we're in here. Out here. Whichever."

            The Djinn all looked at each other. Then they erupted into conversation.

            "We're so stupid! Why didn't we think of that?"

            "Speak for yourself, kid."

            "Probably because we were too busy arguing the whole time."

            "Hn."

            "Shut up, Wheeze."

            "…_Hn_."

            "Shut _up_, Wheeze!"

            Amidst the chaos, Breath flew at rapid speed through the waterfall and out into the air. Even flying, it would take her an hour to get back to the others, and at least two hours, probably more, to lead an Adept of any kind here. She only hoped she could find a competent one.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            Garet took a last drink and stood again, ready to get back to work. He purposefully ignored the voice of Quartz in his head, preferring to concentrate on exactly how to best utilize his new Mars Psynergy.

            _And really, Thorn isn't so bad,_ he thought. _It's destructive enough…and sharp, too_. 

            Isaac and Mia were on the complete other side of their designated building area. Isaac was high in the branches of a tree, trying with much success to will it to shape itself into a living home. Mia was lower down in another tree, tying ropes together to form a ladder.

            Isaac paused and glanced down at Mia, smiling to himself. She looked so at home there—sitting with her back to the trunk of the tree and her legs stretched out on the thick branch, face serene and concentrated at the same time—a look he'd seen far too often for his liking, but loved all the same—as she tied complicated and long-lasting knots.

            "Guess you pick it up, the knot-tying, as it goes along," he muttered to himself. "Knots that need to stay tied and such. I know I couldn't do some of those, and I spent several weeks as the captain of a ship."

            "Do you always talk to yourself?" asked Mist, on his head and overseeing his work. Granite, having spent considerable time in Kolima, was present also, on his left shoulder.

            "When I've nothing better to do," he said casually, reluctantly turning his attention away from Mia and back to the task at hand. 

            Mia didn't even notice Isaac looking at her—she was preoccupied with the knot, in the wrong place, that didn't want to come undone. It would make the ladder bend sort of sideways, which probably wasn't a good thing. 

            Her thoughts, though, _were_ on Isaac—particularly the idea that she'd rather join him up in the high branches and build something than sit down here, at the right level for the wind to not quite drive away the heat—this place was amazing, hot during the day and freezing at night—and tie rope together.

            Thus, it was Garet who noticed a faint purple spot zipping through the trees, squinting as it came closer and stopped in front of him. This only made him squint harder—he recognized this Djinni, he just didn't know which of the few he could recognize it was.

            "Garet," said Breath (the voice identified her) in a sort of half-relieved half-groaning tone. 

            "Hello," he said, turning away and getting back to work. Breath sighed.

            "Garet," she tried again, aware that she was wasting valuable time. 

            "Good for you, you know my name," he said distractedly. "Look, what does Sheba want? Because if it's about Jaldo, he's going to have to tell her himself, it was his information anyway, and I still don't entirely believe it."

            "Garet, you aren't listening to a word I'm saying."

            "That's right."

            "But this is _important_! Put down those ropes and _listen_!" Garet was indeed doing much the same thing as Mia, only his work was much less complicated. He'd never been much of one for intricate things. 

            _That'll be the death of you_._ Or someone else_.

            _Go _away_, Quartz_. 

            "Put down these ropes?" Garet asked aloud, astonished. "Do you know how annoying it is to try to tie the ropes properly without help? And, no one cares enough to notice, but they keep coming undone when I'm not looking. Say, you couldn't lend a hand—no I suppose not, you don't have any, and I doubt you've done this before anyway…how about a wing, then?" 

            "_Garet_…"

            "And anyway, I'm leader of these people, you'd think that would garner some appreciation, but _no_, I'm still just one more extra pair of faceless hands…not that anyone's hands have faces, mind you, it was an expression…though, some of those timepieces Kraden had, they had both faces _and_ hands, a face with hands, how absurd!" Here, Garet paused for breath. The Djinni with the same name seized the opportunity.

            "Garet-Sheba's-trapped-in-a-waterfall-cave-and-there's-no-other-exit-so-I'm-asking-you-to-come-help-get-her-out," said Breath quickly, without pausing for one herself. 

            "And he tried to pass them off as _compasses_, would you believe, except that didn't go over so well when we tried to head north at half past three, and we could never figure out exactly which way…did you say something about Sheba?" Garet asked, frowning at the Djinni.

            _Now you catch on. Smooth_.

            _If you don't shut up I'll fry you_.

            _With what?  _

            _My fists_.

            "Garet, you're not even listening to me!" Breath yelled. Garet flinched, then looked at the Djinni again. 

            "Alright, go over it again, and slowly." Breath did so. Garet frowned again, and if she hadn't been hanging in the air, Breath would have probably taken a step back. It looked almost like Garet was…_thinking_. 

            "Where?" he asked, and Breath gave a resigned sigh. "No, no, I don't mean tell me again, I mean _show_ me where!" Garet cried, and this time the sigh was one of relief. Breath took off, above the height of the trees, then turned back around, realizing she'd left Garet behind.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "I wonder if the sun's set," Sheba muttered. It certainly _felt_ like it—it was _freezing_, and Sheba was still wet, and she really wasn't enjoying herself. The Djinn, however, were quite another story.

            Blitz and Waft stood near the entrance, playing tic-tac-toe on the ground, using water to mark the grid and their moves. On the wall was a game tally—Blitz had won seven games, Waft nine. 

            Gale and Gasp kept challenging each other to races, from the waterfall end to the back end of the cave. And Gale kept winning. "I may be old," she said, "but the only Jupiter Djinn who could _ever_ beat me was Zephyr." And she said this repeatedly.

            Aroma and Lull were having a staring contest. As Djinn don't blink (not in the human sense anyway), this could have gone on for centuries. 

            Wheeze, knowing it was annoying and enjoying himself, kept saying, "Hn," to the irritation of Haze, who finally gave up and just said, "Have it your way, shorty."

            "I'm not short," grumbled Wheeze.

            "Sure you are. You're the smallest Jupiter Djinni."

            "I am not! We're all the same!"

            "Think what you want, like I said."

            "Hn," Wheeze said, with sincere feeling this time. Haze sighed.

            "So much for understandable sentences."

            If Sheba hadn't been concentrating on _anything_ besides the quickly worsening cold, she might have laughed. 

            _The sun must be down by now_, she thought. She shivered again. _I wonder if I'll ever see it…rise…_Somehow, this seemed immensely important, the rising of the sun. Sheba opened one eye and looked around. It was starting to feel warmer, she realized. Maybe it had been so long, the sun was _rising_. _But that's silly, the cave faces south…and the sun rises in the east…_

            Words, in the form of voices of the other Adepts, were reaching her mind. Something about what she shouldn't do in this sort of situation.

            _I'll sleep on it_, Sheba decided, feeling herself already drifting into darkness.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            "It's getting late," said Garet, squinting into the darkening forest. "How much farther is it?"

            "The river's here," said Breath, and Garet emerged from the trees onto the bank, bending to pick up the bag—obviously Sheba's—that had been left there. 

            "Ok, so we found the river," Garet said, putting her bag over his shoulder. "I am not, however much I would have liked to this morning, swimming in it and then dropping over the falls. There has to be another way in."

            "There is," said Coal, appearing on Garet's head.

            "No, there isn't," said Breath. "We looked."

            "Consider this," offered Coal. "How did the air get in?"

            "Through the waterfall, I expect. Any other way would have dried the place out."

            "Enough air couldn't possibly get through there. Either you left Sheba in there suffocating, which I doubt, because from what I've heard she's been there for about a day now, and she isn't dead yet, or there's another air source."

            "Yes, but there might have been a lot of air there in the first place."

            "Look, all I'm asking is that you get in there and work out, somehow, if there's not maybe just a small hole, or a few small holes, that air can come through from up here. You things can _see air currents_, for Sol's sake!" said Coal. Garet had watched this exchange with only mild interest and extreme uneasiness at the thought of how much Coal resembled Jenna. 

            Breath dove into the water, surprising the Djinn as she burst back into the cave. She barely glanced at Sheba, who seemed to be contemplating something, and instead raced to the back of the cave, beating Gale on this most recent go-round, and sincerely looking for even the tiniest hole or opening.

            And she found one. It was about Djinni-size, and she raced along it, around several turns and finally up, out into the open air.

            Garet watched her emerge from the stones on the opposite side of the river, and some odd reflex made him leap _into_ the water and swim—quite well, actually—across to the opposite bank. "What is _wrong_ with me today?" he grumbled to himself, glaring at the wet hair hanging into his eyes. 

            They stood there for a few minutes, studying the hole. Obviously too small to be an exit for anyone but a Djinni, Garet could only thing that something would have to explode to make it any bigger. Explosion was one of his favorite topics, but anything like one would be very, _very_ bad for Sheba. 

            "Explosion could still work, though," offered Gel, joining Coal. "If you went about it the right way."

            "The right way?" questioned Garet. "There's a right and wrong way to blow something up?"

            "Certainly. If you were to freeze, or wet, an area of this…rock here, and then make it very hot _very_ fast, you'd get about as controlled of an explosion as anyone is likely to get."

            "How do you know all this?"

            "I'm a Mercury Djinni," said Gel, as though this made all the difference.

            "Good for you. Currently, I'm a sort of combo Venus/Mars Adept, Dragoon style, without anything that could freeze or wet rock."

            "You've got Hail," Coal pointed out. Gel groaned. 

            "Aye, that ye do!" said Hail, appearing as though on cue. 

            "Once and for all, Hail," said Tonic, the last of Garet's Mercury Djinn and probably the most sensible, "you are _not_ a pirate!" 

            "Ye can say whatever ye want to say, matey!"

            "Spirits, it'll never end!" 

            "Yes, well, um, Hail," mumbled Garet, pulling the Djinni off his head with some difficulty. "See that hole?"

            "Arr," said Hail. Garet took this to mean 'yes'. 

            "Go down that hole…and go straight, until you reach a cavern…and freeze an area about my size as you go along. Can you do that?"

            "Aye, cap'n!" Hail said, leaping from Garet's hand and diving headlong into the hole. Garet put his hand on the rock and immediately pulled it away—it was too cold to touch.

            In a few moments, Hail reappeared. "All set fer ya, cap'n!" she said. Garet sighed. 

            "What now, Gel?" he asked, but the answer came in the form of one of his own thoughts. 

            _How can I use this new Mars Psynergy…_

            _Now you're talking, dimwit_, said Quartz's voice. She sounded…_pleased_.

            _I'm not talking, actually. I'm thinking._

            _Don't kid yourself._

            "Alrighty," said Garet, rubbing his hands together and looking at the very cold rock. "Fiery Blast!" At his words, a ball of flame shot out of Garet's hand, connecting with and totally blowing apart solid stone. 

            Eight Jupiter Djinn practically hit the roof (in fact, three did) as a humongous chunk of…just _rock_…whooshed by and rocketed through the waterfall.

            "Well that was interestin'," said Hail. _Hail_, thought Haze. They could hear _Hail_! 

            "Someone's here! Someone's here!" Haze cried excitedly. 

            "Go on, jump in," said another voice. There was a dull thud and a sudden yelp.

            Garet was sliding down a rocky, rough, completely-_not_-fun tunnel, one that led down into the cave where Sheba and her Djinn were. And he wasn't enjoying himself. He landed hard, with a sort of grunt, and stood, brushing himself off. "I'm not doing that daily."

            "You won't have to," said Quartz, visible this time. "Alright, smart guy, time to make the donuts."

            "Donuts?" asked several voices, Garet's included.

            "It's an expression. That means time to get to work, get started, get your rear in gear, that sort of thing." 

            "By doing what, might I ask?" Garet asked testily. "By Mars, it's _freezing_ in here! How did you do it for a day?"

            "We don't really feel the cold," offered Aroma. "Most Djinn don't, actually, unless it's…way sub-zero. Like that time in Prox."

            "Do _not_ go there," said Coal, somehow still atop Garet's head, though Hail and Gel were now absent. Tonic was on the floor of the cave with Quartz, and they, along with airborne Breath, were staring at Sheba.

            "Something of interest?" Coal asked sharply. 

            "She's _asleep_," said Breath, a slight note of horror in her voice. Asleep in a cold room was so obviously _not_ a good idea.

            "Don't know why, either," complained Gale. "Slept all last night and through to around four in the afternoon. She doesn't _need_ anymore, I say!"

            "Garet," groaned Quartz. "Oh, in the names of Sol and Luna, why _Garet_? Why not…Isaac, or Mia, or even _Ivan_?!" she half-yelled. 

            "Well really. I _did_ get us in here, you know," Garet sniffed. 

            Suddenly he took a very large step back. A pile of information had just flooded his mind, and it terrified him. Worse than Jenna and Mia combined. Somewhere a part of his mind laughed at that ironic thought.

            "No," he said in a meek voice. "No way. Never. I can't!"

            "Sure you can," said Quartz in a much gentler voice. "Really, I thought I'd enjoy your reaction to this bit of information, but I think I would have preferred more favorable circumstances." 

            "But…Isaac didn't say…"

            "Isaac wouldn't have noticed. He's used to it. The reason it felt odd to you, back there this morning, is because it's totally against your nature in more ways than one."

            "I've never…_tried_…if I mess up…why can't you do it?" Garet cried, looking quite horrified.

            "Look, Mars boy," said Coal, having studied the knowledge Quartz had given him, along with instructions of a sort and come to the conclusion that it was either this way or the highway. "Quartz already explained to you why neither she nor Breath can handle this. So make the darn donuts and get it over with!"

            "_If I mess up Sheba could die!_" he yelled, surprising all present and nearly deafening them with his echoes. "I can't use healing Psynergy. I leave that up to Isaac and Mia and Felix and Picard."

            "And Jenna," added Forge's voice.

            "You are _ever_ so helpful in these situations. Thank you _very_ much."

            "Welcome."

            "Garet! Stop stalling! Or else…we'll do it the hard way!" Quartz's voice had become its usual annoyed self—the way it always was when dealing with Garet. 

            "Hard way?" Garet asked. "I'll take that!"

            "Oh no you won't!"

            "Oh yes I…" Garet stopped suddenly. An annoying little voice—not Djinn this time, but his own sort of inner voice—had sprung up in his mind.

            _You're a leader now, aren't you? Sometimes, they have to do things that they just don't want to do, but they do them anyway, because it's for the good of the team. That's what it's about, Garet. Not just power and glory and being number one. It's about doing what's right, even against all the odds, even if your own heart says you can't possibly pull it off. That's the price you pay for the title; it's a package deal. _

            "…Alright," Garet said, in a calm, collected, totally un-Garet voice. "I…I'll do it."

            "It isn't hard," offered Tonic consolingly.

            "It isn't all 'just say the words and let it happen,' either," he said, unknowingly almost quoting Quartz herself. With every sensible part of his mind screaming for him to not even dare, Garet sat beside Sheba and tried to shake her awake.

            "You knew it wouldn't work," said one Djinn or another. Garet couldn't tell the difference, not right then. Something odd had happened, somewhere in his mind—he was…_concentrating_, he realized. Without even trying. The faint blue light around his hand repulsed him; he knew it was Mercury Psynergy. 

            Placing that hand on Sheba's shoulder, taking a deep breath and willing himself to not back down from this, he whispered the words, "Pure Ply," and felt a sort of all-over twitch, or shudder…it felt as though every nerve in his body was…laughing. 

            It took no more than five seconds for Garet to come to himself and stand, rubbing his hand on his shirt—it still felt odd. With his other hand, he used a trick that Isaac had employed once, calling up Thorn to bring plants from the ground and using a concentrated Blast to light them on fire. It got steadily warmer in the cave, and drier too.

            The Djinn had all disappeared, he realized. All but two. Coal lingered still on his head, and Quartz looked up at him, contemplative, calculating.

            "Well done," was all she'd say, giving a short nod. "Waft!" she said, and the Djinni appeared and waved his wings at Garet, who for the second time that trip fell over in Djinni-enhanced sleep.

            "Even I didn't think he'd actually pull it off," Coal commented.

            "You think I did?" Quartz asked. Still, a smile was in her voice. 

            "You respect him now, is that it?"

            "As much as I ever will. And he is still a dimwit."

************************************************************************

Well.

*Voice* Deep subject.

Oh stop it.

*Voice* I don't have to. I'm an omnipresent, all-powerful, perfect disembodied voice.

If you were perfect, you wouldn't have ended that first sentence in a preposition. 

*Voice* Oh, bugger. 

Now then…after twelve pages I don't think there's much more I can say, is there? Except that, somehow, the sixth chapters of both SS and DT have ended up being…long and quite…erm…important. 

Well then. Off to review, I hope. 

*Voice* You'd better be.

You know, you remind me of Kaede…

*Voice* I've been found out! (You're talking to me on the phone you dimwit)

So now you act like Quartz. Funny…never saw that likeness in my mind…

Push button. _Now_. Must do so if want the end of story. 


	7. Laliveran Girl

Dawn and Twilight

A/N: Well, here we are at the last chapter. I did enjoy writing this. Really really lots. And I'm happy to be posting it on my birthday!!! YAHOO!!! To all my wonderful reviewers:

**Jupiter Sprite:** Upside-down? Quick, turn it back over, or else turn the computer screen back so you can read this! Hehehe. 

**Midnight:** 'Savvy' is hardly the right description. 'Lucky' might fit better. …Yeah, that's about it.

**Elena and Akiko:** Helloses!! (Kaede says hi) This is the end, here…I hope you enjoy it!

**Griffinkhan:** The lack of identification of who was speaking was part of the fun of the chapter. The Djinn are pretty much the embodiment of chaos anyway, so their discussions are usually something like that—a cacophony of voices that aren't really distinguishable. 

The amount of reviews here have already surpassed those of SS…thanks much! Off to reading!!

Chapter Seven: Laliveran Girl

            "Garet left? Yesterday?" Isaac asked sleepily. Riali nodded. "And…he didn't come _back_? Not even for dinner?" 

            "He did not," confirmed Dulo. "None of the Pajaros have seen any sign of him. We were hoping you or Mia would know where he'd gone."

            "Can't say that I do," Isaac said thoughtfully, rubbing the back of his neck as thoughts fought for the spotlight in his mind. "Do you know when he left?"

            "Somewhere around five after noon."

            "Wow. Maybe he saw something dangerous and went chasing after it."

            "Garet would do this?"  
            "Not Garet the Hero. But Garet the Dragoon? Probably." Isaac rose and went outside, feeling, though not on the same level as Sheba had mentioned a few days ago, the importance of the sunrise. _To be in a world where you weren't sure of the morning sun would be such a terrible thing_, he thought, not bothering to think about where the thought had come from. Stretching, he turned back to Dulo and Riali again.

            "What do you propose we do?" Riali finally asked. 

            "Keep building," Isaac said with a shrug. "Garet's smarter than we give him credit for sometimes. He'll be back, eventually. No sense in stopping work." 

            "You're certain something hasn't happened to him?" Dulo asked concernedly.

            "Who, Garet?" Isaac asked, as though it was quite a stupid idea. "The only thing that could possibly happen to him that would unnerve him would be…since Jenna's not here…having to use Mercury Psynergy. And I find that hardly likely."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            Slowly, Sheba opened one eye. There was light coming from a still-burning fire in the middle of the floor, and across the cavern from her, Garet was slumped against the wall, asleep.

            _Garet?_ her mind asked, and she opened both eyes and stared at him for a moment. She had no recollection of anything involving Garet recently, especially down here in this cave.

            "Garet indeed," said Gale from near Sheba's feet. "I am sincerely tired of you sleeping all the time," the Djinni added half-tartly. "Get up, wake up the moron—sorry Quartz, dimwit—and let's get out of here."

            "This doesn't happen to be a re-enactment of the Squall episode, does it?" questioned Quartz, standing near the fire. 

            "I should think not!"

            "Oh good. Good morning Sheba," Quartz said in a relaxed voice. "Happy to see he didn't kill you by mistake." 

            "What? How in the world did you get _down_ here? And what are you doing allied to Garet? What happened to Isaac? Why would Garet have killed me by accident?" Sheba couldn't stop the questions from just spilling out.

            "Freezing and burning, we needed to switch to build houses, Isaac is with the Pajaros, and that last one is a tale worth waiting for," said Quartz, flickering into nonexistence as she said this. Sheba sighed exasperatedly.

            Venus Djinn.

            Nine Jupiter Djinn vanished as well, and Sheba found herself feeling much more awake and quite a bit warmer that she'd have expected. Standing, she looked around again.

            "So I can speculate that Garet lit this fire, somehow, and blew a hole through here as a back door, and perhaps did some swimming in the process?" she asked the empty air.

            "Speculate all you want," said Garet, attempting to roll over while in a sitting position. "Just give me ten more minutes."

            "Won't they wonder where you are, oh valiant leader?" Sheba asked teasingly. Garet's eyes snapped open and he sprung up. 

            "Sheba!" he yelled, the noise echoing for several seconds.

            "Don't tell me you thought you'd killed me too," Sheba muttered. "How could you have done that anyway?"

            "If I'd gotten it wrong," he offered, putting out his fire and walking over to the hole in the wall. "After you," he said, squinting up the shaft. Almost reflexively, he rubbed his hand on his shirt.

            "Climb up that thing? It's really a way out?"

            "You don't think I swam in here?!"

            "Right," Sheba agreed, and she nimbly began climbing the twisting, winding tunnel, crying out happily when she saw sunlight ahead. 

            Soon, both of them were across the river again and heading back toward the soon-to-be Pajaros Village. Garet kept shaking his head like perhaps there was water in his ear, or he was trying to remember something but couldn't, and rubbing his hand on the edge of his shirt like there was something on it he was trying to scrub off. Sheba watched this for a while and finally her curiosity got the better of her.

            "Why do you keep giving that sort of head twitch?" she asked, turning around and walking backwards.

            "Imagine what _you_'d feel like if you had, say, Gaia, in the back of your mind for more than a day." 

            "Then I'd probably be doing something similar to that." 

            "And also, a Venus Djinni who incessantly calls me a dimwit and hates every fiber of my being keeps replaying for me the memory of last night, and said memory comes with a sort of head twitch. Perhaps you could get Quartz to desist." 

            "Desist? Garet, that's…well you don't usually talk that way."

            "Dragoons do, I guess."

            "You're a Dragoon?"

            "I am today." 

            _I do not hate every fiber of your being_, Quartz argued in Garet's mind._ Just the majority of them_. 

            _That is _ever_ so comforting a thought_, Garet snapped.

            _You are most welcome_, Quartz replied with the mental equivalent of a sly smile. 

            Isaac spotted them first, for again he was atop a tree, trying to make a house look a bit more houselike, and when he realized that Garet and Sheba had also seen him, he gave a casual wave. 

            "They're back!" he called to Mia, who looked up and smiled, also waving.

            "_I do not envy you in the least bit, Mia_!" Garet called up to her, and for a moment she looked puzzled. Garet had been up the trees with all the rest of them yesterday, so he couldn't mean that—he'd been enjoying himself. 

            "_Not you either, Isaac, though you've got a bit of a different way of doing things_!" Garet added as an afterthought. Sheba, Isaac and Mia were all, by this time, staring at him as though he had grown an extra three heads.

            Muttering words that not even Sheba could fully understand, Garet looked down at where his hand was again rubbing on his shirt and frowned. "What, is this going to be a thing for the rest of my life?"

            "Probably just today," offered Gel consolingly. "And if it is a lifetime thing, you're going to have a bunch of holes in your clothes from all that rubbing-off."

            "What are you rubbing off?" Mia asked, having descended from the top of the tree with an intrigued look on her face. "For that matter, where were you? Everyone was…well, you left and didn't tell anyone, and they were…concerned."

            "It was kind of important. Can I have my own Djinn back now?" Garet pleaded. "I mean…if I have to keep Growth, then I'll keep one of Isaac's Djinn. But please?"

            "Really, Garet, I can't imagine why you'd want to do that," Isaac said, a mischievous smile crossing his face as he, too, landed on the ground. "Something bothering you?"

            "Yes. Quartz."

            "She doesn't like you much," Isaac agreed.

            "On the contrary," said Quartz, appearing on the ground at Garet's feet. "I don't like him at all. But like and…and respect, or perhaps appreciation, are very different matters entirely."

            "You just enjoy watching me squirm," Garet muttered, and Quartz's response was sly silence.

            "You respect Garet?" asked an astonished Bane from Mia's hair. "What on Weyard changed your mind?"

            "I'm afraid you had to be there," was all Quartz would say. Bane huffed.

            "I'm older than you, Quartz," he warned.

            "I daresay that's the only thing you've got on her," snapped Balm, and Bane seemed to visibly back off. "Now shut your mouth and be patient!" This comment, of course, had the Adepts in hysterics. Laughing ones, that is. Partly because if Bane was anything besides grouchy it was impatient, and partly because the words seemed somehow…familiar. 

            "I'm starving," Garet commented once the laughter had subsided. "Lunch, anyone?"

            "We've only just had breakfast an hour ago," said Mia.

            "Garet would ask for lunch even if he'd had breakfast with you," Sheba pointed out. "But I'm hungry too. Besides, food will give Garet a chance to tell me why he thought he could kill me."

            "He did?" Isaac asked curiously.

            "Said so when he woke up."

            "This one I _have_ to hear."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            About half an hour later, Garet had finished his third helping and had given the others the basic story of the night before. Sheba had, occasionally, thrown in her parts, not leaving out the creative boredom-busting processes of the Djinn. 

"I am going to have a _serious_ talk with Kraden when we…_if_ we ever get him back," Garet threatened. "He'll pay for…well just about everything."

            "I find it hilarious," said Mia, the barest hint of a smile showing on her face.

            "You don't entirely look it," Isaac pointed out.

            "I've remembered something."

            "So have I," said a voice, and Jaldo joined the four Adepts in their current residence—one of the first completed tree dwellings. "When I heard that Sheba had returned, I came to tell her the news."

            "News?" Sheba asked, and it dawned on her seconds later. "Oh. That news. You know, with everything that's been going on recently…in the past day or so anyway…I'd completely forgotten."

            "Would you like to know, or would you prefer I not tell you?" Jaldo offered.

            "I'd like to know," Sheba said, though hesitantly. "I didn't come all this way for nothing. You found out if I was born here, in Pajaros?"

            "I did."

            "And was I?" 

            "I spent several days searching as much as I possibly could. I'm afraid not, Sheba. You were not _born_ in Pajaros." Jaldo offered her a sad smile.

            For a few moments, Sheba was stunned. Then her mind began to catch on and she fixed Jaldo with a questioning eye.

            "Not born here, you say, and with emphasis that suggests there's more to your answer."

            "A Jupiter Adept to the core," Jaldo conceded with a grin. "I have, however, possibly found evidence to suggest that your family, your ancestors _originated_ here. As I have said, we were once a port city, and a vast one. There used to be Adepts of all kinds here, but the Mercury Adepts moved on, as they usually do, sailing the sea for other lands, and the last Mars Adept left on a sea voyage himself, many years ago, apparently to search for a lost love, or something to that effect."

            "That doesn't tell me much," Sheba commented.

            "I am not yet finished. The last Mars Adept had a brother, a Jupiter Adept, who grew up here but lived…elsewhere. He returned once in his lifetime, bringing with him a precious gift to the people of Pajaros, and left then for what remained of his days. He had children, of course, but none of them came back here."

            "You're suggesting that, whoever this was, I'm some sort of descendant of his?"

            "I am suggesting just such a thing. However, it is entirely possible that this is not the case. I wish you luck in further pursuit of your past, Sheba," Jaldo said with a nod.

            "I…well…that is, I…thank you," was what Sheba finally settled on, and Jaldo, taking the cue, left the Adepts to themselves.

            _So that's it, then_, Sheba thought. _I'm still the different one, homeless, no past, no family, no place to belong_.

            _I've never known you to lie so bluntly,_ said Breath.

            _What do you mean?_

            _She means that first off, you aren't different at all. No different than any of the other Adepts are from one another_, said Waft.

            _And one can hardly call you homeless. Your home is in Lalivero, and so are your parents. Just because they aren't your natural parents doesn't make them love you any less_, said Blitz.

            _You have a past. Your life in Lalivero, all your adventures with Felix, Jenna and the others, that's a past. You've got one of the most amazing pasts of anyone alive today_, added Haze.

            _Family? You have to be blind, deaf and stupid not to realize you've got one of those. Isaac, Garet, Mia, Picard, Jenna, Felix and Ivan, not to mention Faran and his family, are _your_ family too_! put in Lull.

            _And don't you dare forget about the nine of us,_ added Gasp. _We count as family as much as the humans do!_

            _And as for a place to belong_, began Aroma, _no one really belongs in a place, so to speak. They belong in a situation, or perhaps with a certain person or people, and thus claiming a place to belong is foolish_.

            _And no one's got a better group of people to belong with than you do, Sheba, except the seven others that share your group_, observed Wheeze. _You're definitely not lacking in that department_.

            _There's no reason to feel sorry for yourself_, said Gale. _You've got a set of friends who'd risk their lives to save yours, and you'd do the same for each and every one of them. Right there's your home, family, and belonging. Just because you don't know where you came from…that doesn't even matter. It matters what you do with your _future_, not what your parents or grandparents or fire-wielding great-great-great uncle thrice removed did centuries ago_!

            Sheba was in tears. For a minute or two she didn't even notice this, being absorbed in the conversation going on inside her own mind. These were her Djinn saying these things. Annoying, bothersome, more-trouble-than-help Djinn…and they were telling the truth. This, more than anything, brought tears to her eyes.

            "Sheba?" Mia asked finally, breaking the long silence. "Are you alright?"

            "Of course she's not alright," Garet said sharply. "She still doesn't have a place to call home."

            "No," Sheba said, but her eyes were locked on Garet, not Mia. "I do have a place. That place is with the three of you, and the rest of us who are off in Lemuria. I don't need anywhere else. I'm satisfied with that. It's…it's more than I could ever have hoped to have."

            Isaac, Garet and Mia looked first at Sheba, then at one another, in silence. 

            "Well then," Isaac ventured after a time. "There are houses to be built, and I think there's some Djinn-rearranging to be done if you're going to help us, Sheba."

            "That there is," Sheba said, smiling.

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\ 

            Four days passed without much event other than the occasional fall from a high branch, and those who did fall were quickly caught by a Whirlwind or Cyclone from one of the Jupiter Adepts. The village of Pajaros was nearly complete, and a group of Adepts, Venus and Jupiter alike (along with Mia, Iasa and Sheba), had gone to rebuild Hesperia Settlement.

            It was on that very shore that a peculiar messenger found Sheba, sitting on the beach and staring out at the water, the wind at her back blowing her short hair around her face. 

            "Sheba!" cried an excited voice, and Sheba jumped, startled out of her thoughts. 

            "Ether?!" she asked, correctly naming the Djinni that was hurtling her way. "What brings you here?"

            "Ivan sent me."

            "Oh really? Why?"

            "Because he and the others are stuck in Yueivar."

            "In where?"

            "It's on Sinelsol Island." 

            "And where's that?" Sheba asked as Mia and Iasa joined her. "And if you give me another name that I've never heard of I may scream." 

            "I'll tell all of you at once or none at all," said Ether, and Sheba caught herself before letting out an exasperated sigh. 

            "Come on then," said Iasa. "Let's go back to…to Pajaros Village," she finished with a wide smile. "It _is_ nice to call it that. It has been so long…longer than I have been alive, certainly, but it sounds right."

            "You've been saying that ever since we got the first houses done," Mia pointed out as they walked.

            "Yes, I have, and I suspect I shall never tire of saying it, and neither shall anyone else. The only problem that now remains is who will take Garet's place when the four of you leave."

            "Now if that's not the question of the day," Mia agreed. Ether looked back and forth between them confusedly.

            "Take Garet's place? As what?" the Djinni asked. Sheba smirked.

            "We'll tell all of you at once or none at all," she replied slyly. Ether growled.

            "Isaac! Garet! Come down here!" Mia called up, and, using a series of rope lifts rigged up when Garet finally remembered that they had the Lash Pebble among their things, Garet and Isaac were quickly on the ground. 

            "Ether has news," said Sheba, looking over at the Djinni. Isaac and Garet fixed Ether with stares of equal intensity. Ether visibly trembled.

            "Isaac, Garet, stop giving her the leader stare," Mia whispered. Isaac stopped immediately with a smile of apology, and Garet stopped a few seconds later with a frown of confusion. 

            Ether took a few brief moments to tell the Adepts, in only the most rudimentary detail, about what had happened to Felix, Jenna, Picard and Ivan after they had left Lemuria.

            "Well I hope the Apojiians aren't angry," Isaac said after a moment's pause. "Their boat, after all."

            "Ship," Iasa corrected, smiling amusedly. Isaac looked at her. "Sorry. Sailing and sailors fascinate me. I'd like to be one, someday, if it's possible."

            "Maybe we _should_ have brought Picard along," Garet remarked.

            "What, and just sent Felix, Jenna and Ivan to Lemuria? They'd never come back," Isaac retorted. 

            "They might not have as it is, with the way things have been going according to Ether," Sheba pointed out. 

            "Iasa, I must apologize," said Isaac. "I'm afraid this means we'll be leaving earlier than expected, but I trust the Pajaros people can finish on their own."

            "And does that mean Garet has to pick a new leader?" Mia asked. Iasa thought about this for a moment.

            "If he wishes. If not, the people of Pajaros Village," here she grinned again, "will elect a leader, the way it was once done. Garet?" she finished, looking at the Mars Adept quizzically.

            "Elect one," he said distantly. "I don't know you well enough to choose." 

            "I shall inform the villagers," Iasa said, and left. The four Adepts looked at one another.

            "Come on then," Isaac said finally, sadly. "Let's start packing up the ship."

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\ 

            "Goodbyes are always the hardest part of any adventure," said Jaldo. The Adepts stood in front of the ship, and the entirety of Pajaros Village stood around them, offering farewells and good fortunes on the sea. Dulo, the people's new leader, was beaming at the Adepts, and could hardly stop thanking them for all they had done.

            "Don't make this harder for us than it already is," Mia warned, though she smiled as she said it. "We'll be back someday. There're always things to do on Hesperia." 

            "Good luck," said Iasa, smiling and looking sad all at once. "Perhaps one day I'll sail past you on a journey of my own."

            "Perhaps you will," said Sheba, turning to follow the others onto Picard's ship. Isaac took hold of the wheel and the ship rose into the air, aided by the Wings of Anemos and four Adepts concentrating on the Hover Psynergy. The Pajaros gasped as the ship moved quickly away, becoming smaller and smaller and finally disappearing as it rounded the southern tip of Gondowan. 

            Isaac set the ship down shortly thereafter, realizing that perhaps a few battles might be a good idea for once—the monsters of the Eastern Sea were little challenge for the Adepts, but it might get rid of some of the energy that tended to build up when on board. 

            Two days of sailing (with a night's stay in Madra) brought them to Lemuria. There was no telling which direction Felix and the others had gone from there, but Sheba suggested they head for Lalivero and see if they spotted any unfamiliar islands on the way. They were a day into it, and past halfway to Lalivero, when Ether remembered that she was supposed to be guiding them and told them to turn around, they were headed in the wrong direction.

            A day later, the ship stopped at a sandy beach of an island none of the Adepts had ever seen before. Several people were on the beach, working on the construction of their own ship, and a familiar blue-haired figure could be seen supervising.

            "Picard!" Mia called, giving an enthusiastic wave. The Lemurian looked up, spotted his ship and waves back cheerfully. The Adepts joined him on the beach, and for a few moments they all stood and laughed for no reason except that they could.

            "How did it go with Lemuria?" Isaac asked.

            "We may be making a return visit soon, actually. Interesting things are going on there, not all of them good, but certainly not all of them terrible. Sheba?" Picard asked her, and Sheba knew full well the remainder of the question.

            "Kraden was wrong," she said, but her voice held a happy tone. "I don't mind. I realized…after some thought…that I don't need a…a homeland other than Lalivero, or a family other than the seven of you."

            Picard nodded. "Come on, we'll go tell Ivan and Felix you've arrived. Hello again Ether," he added, seeing the Djinni perched on Sheba's head. Picard led them through what passed for a forest, following a well-worn path, and eventually to a small village. There, they found Felix on the ground helping to put together a house—properly ironic, Isaac thought—and Ivan sitting on the roof of the tallest building around. 

            "Good morning!" called Ivan, leaping down and landing lightly. Garet shot him the usual glare of half-jealousy. "Have fun in Hesperia?"

            "More than you could have imagined," Mia said, smirking at Garet. The Mars Adept crossed his arms and scowled.

            "Ooh, messing with Garet's head! Let me see!" Ivan said evilly, raising a hand and using Mind Read. Garet started to protest, but the Psynergy held him fast, and after a few seconds Ivan stopped, losing concentration as he fell to the ground, laughing as though he were insane.

            "Well really," Garet grumbled.

            "I can't believe you did that!" Ivan said between giggles.

            "Well, it was either that or the Djinn would make me."

            Ivan's eyes widened. "The Djinn would make you lead a tribe of Hesperians?"

            "What? No! …Oh, wait, that means you don't know…" Instead of finishing his sentence, Garet made the wise choice of running full-tilt in a random direction that wasn't Ivan's, calling on Coal as he did so.

            _How wonderful to have all Mars Djinn again, he reflected as he ran. He stopped, though, when he heard voices in a clearing. _

            "…and Garet walks in, mentions the intense heat, and falls down a flight of stairs!" the voice finished. Garet groaned softly. It was Jenna, telling the story to someone else.

            "Two flights," he corrected almost automatically. Jenna turned to face him and her face broke into a smile. "Hello, Jenna," Garet said, smiling back.

            "Hey Garet. You survived whatever it was you four were doing, huh?" she asked slyly. _You'd think she knew something I didn't, he mused._

            "We had more fun than you did," he replied.

            "Doubtful," said Picard, he and the others finally catching up to Garet. "You have no idea of all the fun we have had here."

            Sheba asked permission, and was granted it, from Felix, and one by one she read the minds of Felix, Jenna, Picard and Ivan. Grinning, and yet also quite surprised, she shared these thoughts and memories with Isaac, Mia and Garet.

            _How interesting, she thought as the others talked about whether or not Felix had a higher death record than Isaac. _We're all back together again and it's perfect_._

            Sheba laughed as Ivan chased Garet into the forest again, he himself laughing at what he had found out from reading the minds of Isaac, Mia and herself. It would be a long trip back to Lalivero…or perhaps, if they ever forgave him, to Champa to retrieve Kraden. 

/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\*/*\

            They had left Sinelsol Island. It was night now, and Ivan sat on the upper deck thing staring up at the stars.

            "Mind if I join you?" Sheba asked, and Ivan shook his head no. Smiling, Sheba climbed the rest of the way up and sat beside him.

            "I'm sorry Kraden was wrong," he said finally. "That old man was the problem for everyone this time around, even as far apart as we were."

            "I'm not sorry at all. I was a little, before…but now…this is where I want to be. It's where I _should_ be, and that's all that matters."

            "Provocative," Ivan said. Standing, he looked down and in the direction of the wheel, where Picard stood, staring into the dark water, immersed in his own thoughts.

            "So what made you laugh so hard about Garet?" Sheba asked. Remembering, Ivan barely controlled his laughter a second time.

            "The things he had to do! Clumsy Garet becoming leader of a tribe and having to use Mercury Psynergy…and fighting a battle to the death and winning against attacks like Skull Splitter and Annihilation. The first two bits are hilarious though."

            "Where do you think we'll go next?" Sheba asked. "Any visions lately?" she teased. Ivan's 'visions' usually emerged as accidental things, seemingly random choices that turned out to be true.

            "None whatsoever. You?"

            "I had a dream about pirates. I remember when we had to fight Briggs in order to get Alhafra off his case and to get Madra to free Picard."

            "Pirates? Let's hope not. They're dangerous."

            "We can take anything," Sheba argued, smiling. "All eight of us together, we're unstoppable. Not even Dullahan—"

            "Don't say that name!" Ivan hissed, and the corner of his eye began to twitch.

            "Right."

            Picard chuckled to himself. He could, of course, hear everything they were saying. He didn't fancy pirates much either, but it would be a change of pace.

            Down below, Garet and Jenna were up late, playing cards. "You make a terrible card player," she remarked. "Go fish." 

            "And that's exactly why I'm terrible," Garet pointed out, picking a card from the pile. "This game's all about water, and I've had quite enough of that for this lifetime."

            "It wasn't that bad, was it? Eights?"

            "I don't know how you do it, Jenna," Garet said fervently, handing over the card Jenna asked for. "Doesn't it ever scare you? That you'll…do it wrong? Mess up? Kill someone?"

            "Sometimes," she admitted. "But you know…it's not like there's always some crisis happening. Well, aside from with us," she amended. "Besides…occasionally, if you say the words, they'll do the job for you."

            "That's wrong on so many levels. Four?"

            "Fish. I wonder where we'll be headed next?"

            "Not Champa. I don't want to see Kraden for a very long time."

            "Agreed. Queen?" Grudgingly, Garet handed Jenna the last remaining card of the game. "And I am the Queen…of cards, at least. Tonight."

            "You may be the Queen of the deck," Garet said, a mischievous light in his eyes, "but I am King of Hesperia!"

            "You _were_."

            "And never again. Leading is Isaac's job, and Felix's. I'm quite content with clumsy sidekick for the time being."

            Jenna smiled. Garet had changed, but he was still her same old Garet. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

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Well. We've reached the end of another tale. I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it. My eternal thanks and credit to my muse, without whom I wouldn't even have ever had the idea for SS. 

Now, as a favor to me before the next adventure begins (be ready, it will come), press the review button!! Away with you to the review writing screen!

Hail: Or it'll be you we load into the cannons! Arr! 


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